Carson McWhirter and The Competing

So you all know we have a boner for Carson McWhirter here, so we saw his show at the Greenhouse in Central District last week. McWhirter and Sacramento's The Competing were clear standouts among a pretty decent-to-stellar line-up of other experimental rock bands (and one screamy metal band that put on a good show but didn't really float my boat).

McWhirter played a three-song set of his signature jagged meditations, concluding with an electric-guitar interpretation of his song "Watchers," which somehow drew the biggest response from maybe the smallest crowd of any performer that night. He's the only musician I've seen carry a show of this ilk of music with just a guitar.

Everyone must have still been on smoke break after The Competing, whose four-song set consisted of some absolutely insane experimental math-metal. All-in-all one of the best shows I've been to in ages, these guys deserve more than a pat on the back and the five bucks I gave them.