Harry Potter and the Melting of Faces

Harry and the Potters - rocking it for Alaska

Harry and the Potters, wizard rock pioneers and possibly the biggest Hpot nerds ever, came to Anchorage this week to rock the Wilda Marston theater at the Loussac Library for two shows Friday night. Kim and I were in attendance for this sure to be interesting event, and were alternately excited (rock band that plays Harry Potter inspired music? gold mine) and a little weirded out (we thought we'd be the oldest people by far, besides parents) by it.

Kim had listened to them on Myspace and thought they were both funny and pretty rocking. I had a less positive opinion, as my limited experience was more on the "well, this is cute, but not that great" side. I did think their sound would translate well live, and from what I'd read they had a ton of presence on stage. As a connoisseur of stage presence, this had me excited. So how was it?

Harry and the Potters rocking out

It rocked.

Hard.

Harry and the Potters are 28 and 20 year old brothers Paul and Joe DeGeorge, or as they refer to themselves, Harry Potter and Harry Potter (or more amusingly, HP). The concept of the band is "what if Harry Potter from year 4 and year 7 met and formed a band?" Apparently the answer is that they would make incredibly clever and catchy 1 to 2 minute songs inspired by the life and times of "HP," and lay down extremely entertaining sets in front of library audiences nationwide. Because that is what they did.

They were quite possibly the most joyous performers I've ever seen, just giving it up to the gods of rock, and blasting songs about what they love the most - Harry Potter. Their set went chronologically, starting with year 1 (fighting cave trolls, coming to Hogwarts) and finishing with year 7 (Fenix Felicis!), and in a way, was the world's fastest cliffs notes for the series. The longest song was probably 3 minutes long, and some songs couldn't have been more than 30 seconds, and they mostly stayed in a punkish rock styling, although some took big departures (ballads occasionally, along with the bizarre and awesome rap party anthem "Phoenix Tears.")

Even more entertaining than their performances was the banter in between songs and their audience interactions - these guys never broke character, they perpetually displayed their

encyclopedic knowledge of the series, and they managed to get everyone in the audience involved with their singalongs and dance sequences. They were ridiculously personable guys, and the message they represented was just as awesome - reading is great and can capture the imagination as well as anything, and they use the power of rock to share that message.

One other thing in particular that I found to be great about their show. Every time I go to a show, bands always say ", you're the best audience we've ever had..." It's just a key choice in the band playbook, and one that is used a lot. The HP boys? They said it, and you believed it. It's not that it really was the best show ever, or anything of that sort, its just that they have so much fun, I think the best audience ever for them is the one they are currently playing to. They just have tons of fun, and appreciate everything they get back from the audience.

Well guys, we appreciate you too. From a guy who has seen a lot of bands go up on stage and show nothing, it was great to see a band go out and give everything they've got.