When I told him that I was going to see a rock band from Baltimore last night, the Cowboy said, “I didn’t think they had those. I thought they were just making electronica up there.” Not in a bad way — just in a vaguely perplexed way, because they make a lot of electronica in Baltimore. But J. Roddy Walston & the Business are honest-to-God from Baltimore and honest-to-God play nothing but pure piano rock and roll. One of my goals for 2011 was to finally see them live, after their 2010 release made my top 25 of the year, and even though I had to bail out of the set before the end — I turn into a pumpkin at midnight in Raleigh on work nights — they rocked Kings right down to the foundations and were everything I’d hoped they’d be and more. What’s a big, rollicking, gorgeously fun album in studio is bigger and more rollicking live, and as Ash always says, if science every finds a way for a man to make it with a piano, J. Roddy will be their number one test case.

This one’s better told in photos; full set here.