last night, i went to this venue in sf i had not been to before... the rickshaw stop. cool spot. i had a free ticket to go see the silversun pickups and two other bands i hadn't heard of before... one called viva voce, and the first band that played, who's name i don't know, and i disn't see. regardless... i was there to see the headliner, silversun pickups. i like their album. i don't think it's anything mind-blowing or fascinating, but it's really good. so, the second band, viva voce, takes the stage, and they say, that the guy playing drums says that this night will be full of panic and horror, or something like that... either way, two big words... words that most music couldn't even dream of attaining as descriptors... so, i was now paying attention... on stage was a guy on drums and a woman on guitar... they proceeded to settle themselves into some extremely interesting rock and roll. and because i could not see the stage from where i was standing, i wanted to see how they were making such great sounding rock music... i cruised upstairs, and lo and behold, it was just the two of them, drums and guitar, really bringing the heat. their entire set was solid... there were parts i thought were reminiscent of led zeppelin... oft-underrated tracks that had those tormented harmonica lines, like on when the levee breaks. during the set another woman appeared on stage to play bass and sing backup. they closed out the set with what i thought was a pixies cover... and it was really really really good... ad i'm not even a big pixies fan at all... but that is the kind of cover song i like to see played. something surprising, and something not everyone knows.so, these guys stole the show... i stayed for 4 songs of silversun pickups, then went home to bed. thy were good, but not as special or as interesting as viva voce.