Awww cinnamon and gravy! It was a veritable Louisville Indie Rock Hall of Fame at Headliners on Friday night.  To be topical, “magic everywhere up in this bitch.” Phantom Family Halo, whom I make no bones calling my favorite Louisville band, ripped through a huge set of new songs so scorching that it makes that projected apocalyptic X-50 class solar flare we’re supposed to get in two years look some sort of Bath & Body Works scented candle. Sweet pea, specifically. It was brutal, and dare I say that William Benton’s fro is a majestic thing to behold from an aerial view.

To close out, Phantom brought out some special guests – everyone’s favorite… well, I’m still to this day at a loss ascribing the right noun or archetype to him… Will Oldham, along with former Slint bassist turned video store entrepreneur Todd Brasear. Bonnie Prince even cuts a rug. It’s horrifying and intriguing at once.

This all happened right before the mighty Roky Erickson took the stage and… eeeh, yeah, he couldn’t really follow up that surprise despite his legendary status, and it’s entirely the fault of his horrible backing band. He or his manager (I would imagine the latter) hired, like, these LA/Nashville blowhard session musicians that looked like they stepped out of a Musicians Friend stock photo to play the generic “hard rock” band in a teen flick and it was grody. Flair jeans + dreads + Fedoras + tryin’ to fuckin’ raaaawk on some white blues riffin’ = total buzzkill. Ay carumba. Shit was upsettin’. Roky, dude, much love to you and yours, but don’t invite those bros back. Stick with Okkervil River, or roll solo acoustic.

I do take back one thing. Phantom Family Halo isn’t just my favorite Louisville band – they are, in my mind, one of the absolute best period, competitive with anyone, anywhere at anytime. Phantom Family Halo was certainly, by leaps and bounds, the highlight of the evening – but they always are in all honesty. Supposedly a new album is supposed to drop before year’s end. Fingers crossed.