Thao with the Get Down Stay Down & The Portland Cello Project @ Warehouse Live

I was supposed to see Thao with the Get Down Stay Down last year at Houston's Orange Show, but their opening set for Xiu Xiu was rained out, and never rescheduled. Unfortunately I had to wait almost a full year to finally catch the act when they took the stage at Austin's Parish Room during SXSW in the spring. I was incredibly impressed with the amount of energy front-woman Thao Nguyen brings to her live performance, and was immediately in need of another live experience from her and her backing band, the Get Down Stay Down. That need was soon cured by the fine folks at Warehouse Live, when they booked the group for a showcase in their smaller room, The Studio.

Read all bout the show, including openers The Portland Cello Project, after the jump

Without any prior knowledge of the The Portland Cello Project, I settled into The Studio for the beginning of their set. Consisting of four incredibly talented cello players, they ran through a cheesy-yet-fun set of interesting covers. From Pantera to the Mario Brothers theme song to a rousing rendition of Outkast's "Hey Ya" featuring the Get Down Stay Down, any type of music was fair game for the group. At one point while the crowd was shouting their way through "Hey Ya," some spry young vixen made her way to the stage and started grinding on one of the cello players – something I never thought I'd see during a folk-based string set. The group closed out with a better-than-the-original version of Britney Spears "Toxic," a song that seems to get quite a bit of attention in the indie world, as it was at least the third time I've heard the song covered this year. While I'm not about to go out and purchase PCP's catalog, especially since they predominantly played covers throughout their set, it was still a pretty fun way to get us warmed up for Thao's ensuing set.

Let's get something sorted out at the beginning of this review – I'm absolutely in love with Thao Nguyen. She's incredibly cute, can sing well, play guitar, jump around stage with high energy and best of all, she doesn't mess around when it comes to boozing – Nguyen was sipping straight from a bottle of Maker's Mark throughout the set. Her songs are simple, yet fun, and her stage personality is what sells her. The bands most recent release, Know Better Learn Faster, is a solid effort, and the perfect follow-up to one of my favorite albums of last year, We Brave Bee Stings And All. It was good to hear the new music showcased, but it was their older material that had myself and the crowd bouncing around the room – "Bag Of Hammers," "Swimming Pools" and "Big Kid Table" all stood out above the rest. The encore found openers The Portland Cello Project cramming on to the smallish stage to add a unique dimension to one of Thao's slower songs. It was a very pretty way to close out the night of indie-pop and folk music, and sent me away even more in love with Nguyen than I was going into the show. I'm seriously infatuated.

I had my camera along, but was forced to shoot from only one angle due to the lip of the stage being crowded with people trying to get as close to the band as they could. Oh well, I still managed to get some shots...

The Portland Cello Project

Thao with the Get Down Stay Down