The Parish is a small venue appended to the House Of Blues. A rectangular flat room where visibility for those of average height is limited unless they are near the front of the crowd, the sound is seldom pristine. Despite Boyd Dupree’s declarations of difficulty mixing the sound in the venue that night, other than a couple of trouble spots, the mix was clear. Despite it being the 4th of July and the weekend of the massive Essence Festival, approximately 225 people show up to see the band’s New Orleans headlining debut.

Opening bands Pilotdrift and Lovedrug both put on satisfying performances. Pilotdrift was accessible yet more eclectic, utilizing loops, computers, and retro keyboards. Lovedrug was a more straightforward radio-friendly outfit. I can see both bands going on to bigger things. I think, though, Lovedrug will have the least difficulty of the two.

Eisley kept its performance succinct, keeping the chit chat to a minimum. Song introductions are kept to the bare minimum. Their set list is so planned out that the song lengths are listed next to the titles. (That’s one I’ve never seen before!) Near the end of the show, Sherri decided that they needed to chat about something since they hadn’t done much talking during the show. However, she wasn’t able to come up with anything worthwhile to talk about so they just played on.