I made two trips to The End last week (God help me). The first was on Thursday to see Feable Weiner kick off their spring tour with Cruiserweight. Annoyed as I was to discover a third band on a weeknight bill that wasn’t even scheduled to start until after 10, I was happy to catch The Reputation. I heard their first record and thought it was good but nothing that really blew me away. But I’d seen singer/guitarist Elizabeth Elmore’s band Sarge way back in the day and loved them.

They put on a great show and sounded at moments like Tsunami or Echobelly. Everything was tight and solid punk-informed indie rock. And they played a perfect length set, hit all the notes and said goodnight.

Cruiserweight followed suit albeit many, many decibels louder. Having seen CW8 at least three times now, I’m slightly ambivalent about them. The one time I saw them with a great mix, I really enjoyed it. The other times… eh. Which makes it as good a time as any to say that the sound at the End last Thursday was unbelievably shitty. And loud. CW8 sounded like crap, but they are pro-enough to play a solid set despite the mix.

Feable Weiner hit the stage after midnight decked out in short shorts, fanny packs and tank tops. It’s a good look for them. And as it was the tour kick-off, one would assume they’ve been out of practice for a while, so maybe we should forgive them the clunky start to their set. Things didn’t seem to gel until several songs in. The band still has the energy and stage presence that they had when they first appeared but in the intervening years, they’ve never gotten that tight as a band. As I say, I hope it was just first show of the tour bumpiness.

Of course, this flyer buys them a lot of forgiveness: