Rock Plaza Central

Less drunk and more focused than I’ve ever seen them before, Rock Plaza Central played with road-worn confidence to the swelling crowd at Lee’s Palace. This apparent sobriety was to the benefit of the band’s tightness, but to the slight detriment of the spontaneity and shambling chaos that helps make the group so endearing. The songs were still fantastic and excellently executed, with the extra time spent on the road particularly evident in the taut drumming, but the energy normally so abundant in Rock Plaza shows seemed to dissipate in the larger open space of Lee’s.