Saw Protomartyr at the House of Vans Detroit thing last night. I've never been a huge fan of these guys. They're not bad at all, but I normally find myself getting bored with their music and wanting to listen to one of the similar sounding post-punk bands who offer up a bit more excitement (Holograms, Preoccupations, IDLES, ect). Anyway, free event, free show, why the hell not? I wasn't expecting much, and honestly almost blew it off because of how much of a shit show it was trying to just get into the concert hall, but their set was way better than I expected. I wouldn't say I was blown away, but definitely left a way bigger fan than I came in as. They sounded great. Better sound than some legit venues I've been to. The singer has this kind of depressed Mark E. Smith thing going on where he kinda mopes around in his spot going between his moaning and shouting lyrics, beer in hand the whole time. The drummer had some really awesome beats. A lot of them kinda felt like fills, but repeated over and over for the full song. No typical kick > snare > kick kick > snare, typical rock drumming which I thought was pretty cool. The guitar and bass players were really good too. They all are very good at what they do.
Overall, I really enjoyed it and would definitely see them again.