Landon Pigg/Madi Diaz; June 10, 2010; High Noon Saloon

It isn’t always the music that convinces me to go to a show; there are additional factors that figure into the formula. In the case of Landon Pigg, his music was around third on the list. At the top of the list was how adorable he had been in Whip It, the roller derby movie directed by Drew Barrymore. He played Ellen Page’s love interest, who’s also in a band, natch. They meet cute and even though he turns out to be pretty much a complete jerk, I was still watching for his name in the credits. I learned he was actually a musician shortly after that, so when a show at the High Noon was announced I wrote it on the calendar, even though I still hadn’t heard his music. I had the next day off and nothing better to do, so I listened to the stuff on his MySpace page that day. Not amazing, but quite certainly listenable. Even so, I was still on the fence. When I found out that the High Noon’s gruff but lovable bartender who hates most everything was working that night I knew I had to go.

I expected it to be one of those shows were the only people I knew were the staff. What I didn’t expect was that everyone else would be a chubby college girl between the age of 18 and 24. There was definitely some small scale but quite certainly sincere teen idol worship going on here, from the squeals of “Landon!!” when he emerged from the bathroom before his set to the way they crowded to the front of the stage while he played. His band was equally lovable, but I am pretty sure none of them noticed. Like the MySpace page his live set was quite definitely listenable. The “hit” “Falling in Love in a Coffee Shop” was endearing, it’s puppy love overtones and utter sincerity making it irresistible. Unfortunately he didn’t play what I had thought to be the best of the tunes “Dressed to Kill,” regrettably he did play his track “Darling I Do” from the Shrek Forever soundtrack. All the money he is going to make from its placement doesn’t change the fact that it was a pretty dreadful song.

The night went as expected; our surly bartender friend hated it. We were facing the stage on a couple of occasions when we heard the unmistakable clunk of shot glasses on the bar behind us- his way of dealing with music that isn’t his thing. Admittedly, I still have no idea what his thing is since he seems to hate everything. Sometimes it’s fun to see a show you aren’t invested in. Tonight was one of those nights, I’m glad I went.