Via Satellite was the first opener for The Album Leaf show, as would be expected for a band composed mostly of members from the headliner (Tim Reece and Drew Andrews).  The drummer, Reece, played straight faced while the other two seemed to be having a good time, evidenced by their sparse but present light-hearted chit chat.  The first song went no where and did not seem like what one would call a good opening song if you want to draw in your audience.  Maybe they did not want to do so.  The second song, Glory, was not very climactic either but seemed more engaging.  A couple songs after I finally was given a real climax (no faking this time), but soon after the repetitive lamenting emotional tone was getting old.  It made me think about the complaints of Pinback's first album or two, which I never agreed with, but now makes me wonder if I am guilty of the same sort of judging.  

The quality of singing did not match the music either.  It could keep up enough to not sound bad, but something was definitely lacking.  Out of the blue though, on the seventh song, it was as if they finally telepathically heard my grievances and rose to the occasion.  Scott Mercado's vocals were really working for this song and this was the dynamic music I had been waiting for but would not see again, unfortunately.  The following song had such a long minimal intro that the crowd became uninterested and rivaled the music for supremacy of the room.  Again, the song did not really go anywhere, which can work sometimes, but it did not feel that way now.  The last song had a good finish, but after all their songs I could think of nothing but the 7th song.  Overall it was a decent performance, but I would never come to a show for them alone until they can put on their best for more than one song.