For those of us of a certain age, The Hoodoo Gurus coming to the States is a BIG deal. Way back in 2019, the band announced that they would be visiting the US in late 2020, which would mark the first time they’d be hitting these shores in over a decade. Needless to say, that never happened. Ultimately, the group rescheduled and re-canceled a total of three times before they were finally able to kick off the tour last month in Florida. The good news was that during that wait, we fans were treated to a new release, Chariots Of Godslast year.
Originally formed in Perth, Australia back in 1981 by frontman, lead singer/guitarist David Faulkner, the band would go through a handful of lineup juggling before they finally hit the US for their first American tour in 1984. Their NYC area shows on that tour included one show at the fabled Chelsea club, Danceteria, another across the Hudson River at the even more iconic Maxwell’s in Hoboken, NJ as well as a late Sunday night gig at CBGB’s which had them erroneously billed at Goodoo Hurus. The band would eventually come back to the states in 1987 when they would play what was then called The Ritz (and now known as Webster Hall). The return to this venue did not go unnoticed by the band, as Faulkner was quick to point out very early on in their set that he—having settled for a bit in New York City in the mid 80’s—had some very fond memories of the room. One particular anecdote had Faulkner meeting (and partying rather heavily) with Joey Ramone in the balcony.
Faulkner’s stroll down his New York memory lane included his fandom way back when of the opening band, The Fleshtones. Of course The Fleshtones have been mainstays of the NY underground garage music scene since the early 80’s and I’ve seen them numerous times since those early days of playing basements and bars in the East Village. In all those shows, I can honestly say that they almost never disappoint. Between lead singer Peter Zaremba’s wild onstage antics along with guitarist/amateur on stage acrobat Keith Streng, the band’s opening set was almost as action packed and high energy as their shows back at Club 57 and Max’s were back in the day.
The Fleshtones at Webster Hall
Having been well primed for an evening of serious rock and roll by The Fleshtones, the mostly middle aged crowd were soon in for quite a treat. The Hoodoos took the stage promptly at 8:45pm and right from the get go ripped into “(Let’s All) Turn On” from their 1984 debut LP, Stoneage Romeo, then segued right into “Answered Prayers” off the newest album. And after just two songs it became quite clear to everyone in the room that these mid 60 year olds were not looking at this show or this tour in general as a nostalgia jaunt. Clearly they’d come to flat out rock and they’d come to show that they still had plenty left in the tank. It was sometime around this third or fourth song that Faulkner offered up an apology from the stage for having had to cancel the show so many times but they’d do their best to make up for the three year wait. Furthermore, I’m pretty sure the band hadn’t even played NYC since 2007, so the diehards had been waiting quite some time for their fix of Gurus.
Moving on through the set, the band went from song to song at a blistering pace. Playing songs from at least half of their albums, it was a wonderful cross section of a career loaded with high speed alternative rock. Interestingly, their first album and most recent LP were the two which were highlighted the most. Surprisingly, the band kicked into their US “hit,” “I Want You Back” rather early on in the set. Not surprisingly however, was that it was greeted with a raucous crowd sing along throughout the chorus and appeared to easily be the crowd favorite of the night.
Hoodoo Gurus at Webster Hall
The highlight song of the show for me had to have been “Bittersweet” from 1985’s Mars Needs Guitars. Coming later in the set, the trading off of lead vocals between Faulkner and guitarist Brad Shepherd along with Shepherd’s fantastic guitar solo made for a picture perfect moment. Their segue right into “I Was A Kamikaze Pilot” to close out the set had the crowd jumping up and down in virtual euphoria.
But as it soon became obvious, the band would not be done there. Coming out for what would be a four song encore, we were treated to “Death Ship” followed by a blistering version of “Like Wow” after which Faulkner began the intro to the next song, “What’s My Scene,” saying how Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles had sung on it then teased the audience that she was joining them…but then he laughed and said “just kidding.” What we did get was all of The Fleshtones joining the stage to dance, sing and parade about like a bunch of drunk ass hooligans. Granted, drunk ass hooligans who were having the times of their lives.
And just like that, it was all over. I promise you that most of the crowd had that same feeling of “the time of their life” as they filed out of the club. I will be the first to admit that I purchased tickets for the show four years ago thinking that this might be the last chance I have of seeing them. It took them over a decade to make their way back here this time and who knows what is in store going forward for a rock and roll band composed of 65 year old dudes from Australia. But let me tell you, they did not put on a show that felt like a swan song. Hoodoo Gurus brought it and left it all on the stage and if this was the last time I get to see them, well, I got to see a banger. But I sure hope that’s not the case.
Scroll down for setlist, pics of the show (photos by Ray Rusinak)
Setlist: (Let’s All) Turn On, Answered Prayers, Another Word, Out That Door, Be My Guru, Night Must Fall, Don’t Try To Save My Soul, Dig It Up, The Right Time, Chariot of the Gods, I Want You Back, Hayride to Hell, Miss Freelove ’69, Equinox, 1000 Miles Away, Come Anytime, Tojo, Poison Pen, Bittersweet, I Was a Kamikaze Pilot Encore: Death Ship, Like Wow- Wipeout, What’s My Scene, Leilani
This Is Not Croydon is a ska festival which started back in 2018 as the This Is Croydon Fest and was originally held at Neshaminy Creek Brewery in…wait for it, Croydon, PA. For reasons which I am not aware of, the festival was moved to Broken Goblet Brewery last year, in Bensalem, PA, hence the change in name to This Is Not Croydon Festival. This was my first time attending so I can not attest to what the original two were like but let me start off by saying Saturday’s #4 was everything I had hoped for and then some. The folks at Broken Goblet, along with the other festival sponsors, put on a fantastic day of ska music, craft beer, food trucks as well as a abundance of outside craft vendors and not to mention more band merch than one’s bank account should responsibly support, but nonetheless, us merch junkies did our best to accommodate.
I arrived at Broken Goblet shortly after noon to find a sizable crowd of ska-heads mulling about the brewery and its surroundings. With ample parking out back I was able to check in without a hitch and proceeded into the main brewery building where the stage and main bar were situated. Through an adjoining door was the actual brewery with its brew tanks and what not which you passed through in order to get to yet another room where the bands were busy moving in to set up their merch stands. Out front was a deck area with plenty of tables and seating to accommodate the food trucks and outdoor beer tent. It was out here that there was also another large tent which housed the rather opulent number of outside craft merchants, t-shirt vendors, as well as a copious amount of new and used record bins for all to peruse.
The first band, Hans Gruber and The Die Hards took the stage promptly at 1pm with lead singer and trombone player Kurt Armstrong immediately stripping down to nothing but his boxer briefs. For a band that was starting things off as early as these Austin, TX folk were, they wasted no time whatsoever in getting the extremely stoked crowd up and skanking. With their brand of outlandish punk/ska they plowed through a set of songs mostly from their most recent album, With A Vengeance, that not only prompted an early afternoon circle pit but more amazingly a circle pit surrounding a game of band sponsored Twister to boot. Nonetheless, Gruber and The Die Hards not only set the tone for the day, but they set that tone to an extremely high level.
Title Holder, a band out of Queens, New York had the unenviable task of having to follow the spectacle which was Hans Gruber and the ska/pop-punk band took the ball and ran with it. While their style was not as frenetic, they still managed to have the crowd jumping and skanking virtually from start to finish of their set.
Next up was New Jersey’s own The Upfux. They lean much heavier on the punk end of the ska/punk spectrum and proceeded to play a loud, energetic and raucous set of tunes mostly from their LP, Coastal Collapse, which came out last year on Bad Time Records. I would be remiss if I did not say that Bad Time Records is very much in the forefront of responsibility for SKA’s most recent resurgence.
Faintest Idea who was up next was probably my biggest surprise of the day. I’d only listened to a couple of songs of theirs on a Spotify sampler that the festival had put together prior to Saturday, but what I’d previously listened to by no means prepared me for the set of jumpy, rebellious, anger infused party music. They were easily the closest band of the day to the Two Tone Ska to which I grew up on. Their brand of brass infused topical Brit ska/punk clearly owed quite a bit to the likes of bands like The Specials, Madness and Bad Manners in both sound as well as politics. They managed to slam their way through their set of politically themed tunes with just the right combination of fury and fun. I was completely bowled over by these UK rude boys and girl (alto saxophonist Katie).
Following Faintest Idea was none other than New Jersey ska stalwarts Hub City Stompers. Formed in New Brunswick, NJ out of the ashes of Inspector 7, The Stompers have been going strong for two decades now. Having seen them numerous times over that time, you can always expect lead singer/toaster/rapper and general raconteur Rev Sinister and his merry crew of Stompers to provide you with a skankin’ good time. Saturday afternoon was certainly no exception as they had the circle pit in full speed action for their entire jet fueled set. Of particular note (and enjoyment) was when they broke into “Philly, What The Fuck?” their hilarious rant over the atrociously (in)famous Philly accent.
And just like that, we were at the halfway mark for the day’s musical mayhem. Next up was another Bad Time Records artist, hometown heroes, Catbite. Unfortunately, guitarist Tim Hildebrand found himself experiencing tech issues while he was setting up. After numerous attempts at various fixes, while the crowd didn’t seem to mind the delay one bit, you could see Hildebrand get more and more frustrated by the technical difficulties. It finally came down to having to swap out his pedal board and thanks to Rod Gorgeous from Hub City Stompers for saving the day and lending his pedal board.
The delay suited Catbite just fine as they ultimately put on a set which best be described aptly as feral. First of all, Hildebrand, being the ultimate pro that he is, put the frustrations immediately behind himself and came out firing on all cylinders on guitar. Singer Brittany Luna was a ball of energy as she sang and danced all over like a whirling dervish and the always boundless Kenny Malloy on keys was even more ramped up than usual, leaping up and down behind the keys like an olympic high jumper. As an added treat the band brought Vic Ruggerio from The Slackers for some guest vocals on a cover version of The Silencer’s “Policeman”. When all was said and done, Catbite, as they always do, had the crowd delirious for 45 minutes.
Catch 22, another New Brunswick, NJ ska band was up next. Dating back to the late 90’s Catch 22 do not play all that often anymore and as such were a treat to have on the Not Croydon bill. With founding member and former lead vocalist,tom Kalnoky having left the band a long time ago to form Streetlight Manifesto, the bulk of the singing duties have fallen on Ryan Eldrid who is also the band’s saxophonist and trumpeter, Chris Greer. Anyway, Ryan and Chris led the band on a siege like 11 song set which opened with 2003’s instrumental “Lemont’s Lament” and ended with the swinging up tempo “It takes Some Time. ”And in between these two chestnuts, we were treated to a bouncy and buoyant cross section of the band’s (and the crowd’s) favorites.
Following Catch 22 was the Against All Authority which formed in the early 90’s as a politically charged ska/punk band ingrained in the DIY ethos. Over time the band gradually moved more to the punk side of things, slowly getting away from the ska leanings they’d started off with. Saturday night had AAA welcoming their ska roots back into the fold with the help of Fin Leavell on trombone and baritone sax as well as Marshall Wildley on trumpet. With the help of the horn section, guitarist Joe Koontz and bassist Danny Lore led the band on a tour de force of a set that had the crowd singing and shouting the words to virtually every song. Blasting their way through what turned out to be an 18 song set performed at breakneck speed, AAA ultimately had the crowd pretty much going ballistic by the time they forged their way through set closer “Walking Revolution” from 1996’s Destroy What Destroys You.
By the time The Slackers took the stage, the sun had already set outside and the rains had started to fall. None of which mattered one iota as Vic Ruggerio, Glen Pine, Dave Hillyard and crew stormed the stage and kicked things off with “Wasted Days” from their 2001 album of the same name. From here the band took the crowd on a lover’s rock, reggae and rock steady tinged trip through their catalog. With Ruggerio’s throaty croon and Pine’s campy ‘bone playing, The Slackers were in classic Slackers mode even before Hillyard took over the mic for his funky and jumpy rendition of “The Fool,” a little romp done in the first wave ska style which he’d recorded years ago with David Hillyard and The Rocksteady Seven.
Capping off what was already a fantastic day and evening of music was none other than California ska/funk icons, Fishbone. What can I possibly say about Angelo Moore and the rest of Fishbone? They pioneered the west coast ska movement of the late 80’s/early 90’s and took it into the realms of funk and jazz like no other band could ever imagine. Its been a long time since I’d seen the band and to put it bluntly, Moore et al are no spring chickens. The idea that they might still be capable of putting on the frenetic crazed shows of years gone by was really not on the table. But with the band kicking off their set with their seminal debut hit “Party At Ground Zero,” I immediately started pondering the idea that just maybe the boys were indeed capable of pulling it off. With a career spanning set which included such stalwarts as “Ma And Pa,” “Everday Sunshine,” “Bonin’ in Da Boneyard” and “Skankin’ To The Beat,” Angelo and crew proved they still had it. Were they as crazed as years gone by? Of course not. Who amongst us (that are still breathing) are? But none the less, they can still bring it.
And I’ve got to add that as much as the older stuff was fantastic to hear again, it was the new song “All We Have Is Now” that really brought a smile to my face. After all, it’s always refreshing to see one of those bands which were so meaningful to you back in the day show signs in this present day that they’re still viable, that they’re still relevant, that they’re much more than just a nostalgia act. Fishbone proved to be all of that and more.
When all was said and done, Not Croydon Fest 4 was a resounding success. It did a fantastic job of mixing the old school with the young guns in the ska world. It pulled that all off within the confines of organizing and running a festival with just the right amount of peripheral attractions to make things interesting without creating a distraction to what was the main attraction…the music. Way to go Broken Goblet and everyone else involved. I’ve already marked next year off on my calendar for This Is Not Croydon Fest 5 (4/20/24 by the way😉🍃💨).
Scroll down for pics of the show (photos by Ray Rusinak)
As hard as it is to believe, Laura Stevenson’s achingly beautiful and personal album, Wheel, is ten years old this year and to celebrate the anniversary of its release, she hit the road on what has become the norm for her and her band, a handful of hit and run weekend mini tours. Last weekend was Boston and New York. This coming weekend is Philly and DC, with a West Coast swing through LA, San Fransisco, Portland and Seattle coming in the last weekend of April, and lastly, a small rust belt jaunt in May where they’ll hit Chicago, Grand Rapids and Pittsburgh.
Even though I was fortunate enough to have caught Laura and her band just last month when she was part of The Screaming Female Garden Party Festival, I am not one to pass on one of her shows, especially a special one to commemorate such an incredible album as Wheel. The show at Brooklyn Made started off with a solo set from Katie Malco, a British singer songwriter whom Stevenson toured the UK with last Fall. Armed with only her upside down Fender Jazzmaster, her wonderful voice, a sharp wit and a handful of terrific tunes, Malco treated the already crowded room to a great opening set.
Following Malco was none other than Kayleigh Goldsworthy whose career I’ve been following since I first saw her some dozen years ago when she popped up on Chuck Ragan’s Revival Tour. Since then I’ve seen her more times than I can count, be it just her and her guitar at a sleazy old man’s dive bar on the Lower East Side or as a support act for Frank Turner or Craig Finn or Dave Hause (who she’s also served as a member of his band, The Mermaid). She’s also played in Frank Iero’s band as well as helping out many of her Philly friends like Petal or Anika Pyle whenever they need vocal, keyboard or fiddle support. But this show at Brooklyn Made was the first time I’d had the opportunity to see her front her own band and the experience did not disappoint in the least. With a band consisting of former members of her first high school band, she ripped through a half hour set of songs mostly from her 2022 LP, Learning To Be Happy.
Kayleigh Goldsworthy at Brooklyn Made
Stevenson and her band took the stage at Brooklyn Made at roughly 10:45 to the absolute delight of the adoring and completely packed room of fans. Not surprisingly, the set commenced with the opening track from Wheel, “Renée,” a song about Stevenson’s love for her step mom. With Goldsworthy providing support on violin along with Shawn Alpay on cello, the song sounded as sweet and as touching as it was meant to.
Stevenson has stated numerous times since the original recording and release of Wheel, the album itself is kind of all over the place stylistically, something which was done intentionally. And although she has expressed issues in the past with the actual sequencing of the album, she pretty much stuck with that same sequencing for much of the show with one change later on in the set. Following the mellow and poignant “Renee” came the bouncy rock and roll number “Triangle,” which despite its upbeat tempo is a rather dark song loosely based on the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire which took place in a sweatshop in lower Manhattan in 1911 and which Stevenson became fixated on while recording the album during a bout of insomnia.
Next up was another rocker, “Runner,” which is the first song from the album which deals directly with Stevenson’s bouts of depression which she has been very vocal and open about throughout her career. Later on in the show she would dedicate “Journey To The Center Of The Earth” to her dad who happened to be there that night. In this introductory dedication she went on to say that she wrote the song while she was holed up in a small apartment in Long Beach, Long Island during a dark period where she would only leave the apartment to go to a nearby Baskin-Robbins for ice cream. One time she left her phone at said Baskin-Robbins and the person who found it called “Dad” to let them know that they had their son or daughter’s phone at the Baskin Robbins in Long Beach.
Stevenson and her band, which includes the aforementioned Goldsworthy and Alpay (who in addition to strings also provided keyboards and guitar) along with Stevenson’s husband Mike Campbell on bass and Sammi Niss on drums ripped through each of Wheel’s songs with the ups and downs, the slow ones and the fast ones performed with the same keen precision as on the album playing the songs with a sense of familiarity and genuine feel for and love of the music.
As I mentioned earlier, there was only one change to the album sequencing, and that was to accommodate Stevenson playing acoustic guitar on “The Hole” and “The Move” back to back without having to switch back and forth with her electric. And I have to say that her fingerpicking on “The Hole” was absolutely fantastic. Not something that we usually see from her, her style and chops were quite wonderful (not to mention Goldsworthy’s terrific fiddle fills).
Laura Stevenson at Brooklyn Made
It was around this point in the evening that she glanced down at the time and gave out a loud yelp, “Oh my god, its 11:30! I haven’t been up this late in I don’t know how long!” To which Campbell gave a triumphant head nod of agreement. She caught that head nod and responded with a quick “I guess we’re not gonna make it to tomorrow’s Easter egg hunt on time” which got quite the laugh from the crowd.
Continuing on with the rest of the album, it was very obvious that the music on Wheel meant quite a lot to Stevenson, as she mentioned many times throughout the evening little vignettes of what she was going through when this or that song was written or recorded. When the band finished up with the final notes of album closer and title track, “Wheel,” I don’t think that anyone in the room would have been disappointed with things if indeed that was the end of the performance, but this was not the case at all as we were treated to another half dozen non Wheel songs, one of which received some of the biggest ovations of the night; “Living Room, NY” from 2019’s The Big Freeze was greeted with a thunderous reaction. That was followed by another Big Freeze song, “Big Deep” to finish off the heartfelt night. And just like that, shortly after midnight on Easter morning Laura Stevenson sauntered off stage and the packed crowd inched their way towards the exits, each and every one of them content and happy with the performance they’d just had the opportunity to witness.
Scroll down for setlist, fan shot videos, pics of the show (photos by Ray Rusinak)
Setlist: Renée, Triangle, Runner, Every Tense, Bells & Whistles, Sink Swim, The Hole, The Move, Eleonora, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Telluride, L-DOPA, The Wheel, Moving Cars, State, Caretaker, Tom Sawyer/You Know Where You Can Find Me, Living Room NY, Big Deep
The New Colossus Festival hit the Lower East Side recently for their annual showcase and festival of up and coming bands from all over the world, many of whom make the stop in NYC on their way to the much more heralded SXSW in Austin, TX. Taking place at Pianos, Arlene’s Grocery, Mercury Lounge, Berlin, Heaven Can Wait, and Bowery Electric, festivities kicked off on Wednesday 3/8 and continued on through Monday 3/13 with a closing event at Bowery Ballroom with Brooklyn’s own A Place To Bury Strangers.
In years past, I have always managed to make it to a show here or there, but this year I made an effort to clear my schedule and decided to do the full fest and check out as much as humanly possible. What that ended up entailing was a total of 47 sets over the course of five days. Of those 47, I ended up seeing one band three times (Plattenbau) and five others twice (Noah & The Loners, Ghum, Adwaith, J3alous, and The Pleasure Majenta). In total, I got to see bands from Calgary, Wales, Texas, Toronto, Berlin, Manchester, Sheffield, San Francisco, London, Copenhagen, Modena (Italy), New Jersey, Vancouver (BC), Athens, Ridgewood, Brooklyn, Dublin, Singapore, Hamilton (Ontario), Birmingham (UK), Vermont, Belfast, and Oslo. Needless to say, come Sunday evening, my legs were shot, my back was aching and my head was swimming in a pool of magical musical memories. What a whirlwind experience for sure. What follows is a day by day breakdown of my time at the fest.
Day One – Wednesday, March 8th
After doing some listening to as many of the bands prior to the festival as possible, I had a rough idea of what I wanted to see, schedules permitting and most importantly, sets starting and ending on time. I started off my festivities with Brooklyn’s very own Punchlove who were the opening act on Kanine Records’s 20th anniversary showcase at Mercury Lounge. With the half hour the band had to perform, the group offered up an enjoyably rousing set of shoegaze noise much to the enjoyment of the crowd which grew steadily as the set went along. Following their set, I walked around the block to Arlene’s Grocery to catch Athens, GA’s duo Monsoon. With guitarist/vocalist Siena Chandler’s effervescent stage presence, the duo provided the crowd at Arlene’s an energetic and passionate set of indie rock.
From Arlene’s, I headed on over to Berlin for back to back sets from Copenhagen’s Gäy and Boontown, NJ’s High. Before I go any further, I need to say that one of the greatest things about New Colossus is that all of the shows are within easy walking distance of one another making it quite easy to jump from one venue to another (provided that the sets were all on time as scheduled, to which they pretty much were all weekend long). Anyway, the set I got to check out from Gäy was my first true surprise of the evening and festival in general. Playing a brand of rock and roll which brought to mind the “pub rock” of mid 70’s UK, lead singer and guitarist Asger Overgaard and the rest of the band put on a fun filled raucous set (it seems like the band might have brought along its own little entourage of friends and fellow partiers for the show) which made me yearn for seeing them in some neighborhood pub back in their native Denmark. Following up was the shoegaze band out of New Jersey, High. Admittedly the segue to a sludgy shoegaze band after the rocking of Gäy was a bit awkward at first but High managed to pull it off without a hitch.
Once High had completed their heavy set, I was off to Piano’s Showroom for the synth pop group out of Oslo, Yndling. Now granted, synth pop isn’t exactly my thing, but front person and Yndling mastermind Silje presented the crowd to a groovy set of pleasant jams. Brooklyn’s very own Picture Show was next up at Pianos and they proceeded to treat the adoring audience to quite a wild and wacky set of live tunes as well as pre-recorded beats. FInishing off the evening, I planned to spend the rest of the night firmly planted front of stage at Berlin for a pair of local bands, Two-Man Giant Squid from Brooklyn and Asbury Park’s Teenage Halloween. Despite the silly name, Two-Man Giant Squid put on a seriously outrageous set which completely won over the legion of fans there to dance and scream along with them. Closing my night out was everyone’s favorite pop punk band from the Jersey Shore, Teenage Halloween. Their split 7” with Homeless Gospel Choir was a favorite release of mine from 2022 so I was quite stoked to be catching them live after having missed them too many times in the recent past. Luk Henderiks and crew did not disappoint as the band put on a scorching hot show with a handful of new unreleased songs along with the “hits” from the 7” as well as their two previously released full lengths.
PUNCHLOVE
MONSOON
GÄY
HIGH
YNDLING
PICTURE SHOW
TWO-MAN GIANT SQUID
TEENAGE HALLOWEEN
Day Two – Thursday, March 9th
Going into day two on Thursday, I wasn’t 100% sure what I would be getting myself into. Of the five days scheduled, truth be told I knew the least about the bands I’d be catching on day two. As it turned out, it would turn out to be an epic night of newfound music. I got to Berlin in time for the opening set of the Dedstrange Records party which would be taking over the space that evening. For those who aren’t aware, Dedstrange is the new label operated by A Place To Bury Strangers’ and Death By Audio’s Oliver Ackerman who himself would be a fixture in the crowd throughout the upcoming days.
Opening the evening up was Kamikaze Nurse from Vancouver, BC. Coming at the crowd head-on with the band’s mix of noise/post-punk/shoegaze, I made an immediate mental note to try to catch another one of their sets later in the weekend. (Unfortunately, this would not come to fruition for me.) After Kamikaze’s set was over, I headed “uptown” to Heaven Can Wait to catch a couple of sets there. I got there in time to catch most of boy wonder, a one man band from Toronto consisting of Ryan (who, in case you were wondering, is not Drake’s producer). Anyhow, his set was fun in a novelty kind of way. Next up was Shred Flintstone from across the Hudson in Jersey City. I didn’t know much about this band and with that name, I wondered if I might be getting another novelty act. I guessed wrong, as Shred, the nom du plum of guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Dan Barrecchia proved to be a very proficient punk garage band that filled the room with loud hooky tunes. Finishing up my stay over at Heaven Can Wait was the main reason I was in the building to begin with, from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Wynona Bleach. Fronted by lead singer Melyssa Shannon, Wynona bills themselves as alternative crunchy popgaze and this certainly works as a pretty good description of what this band delivers.
The next band that I planned on seeing wasn’t scheduled to go on until 11 back at Berlin so there wasno need to rush to get there. Arriving at Berlin shortly before 10, I was shocked to find the club absolutely packed and I mean shoulder to shoulder, can’t move an inch JAMMED. On stage was a band I wasn’t familiar with but even though I couldn’t see the stage or the performers, it was obvious they had the crowd in quite a frenzy. Anyhow, I pushed and squeezed myself toward the standing area to the left of the stage and giving my phone a quick glance, I saw that the band on stage was one called Plattenbau from Berlin. I ultimately got a bit closer to the stage in order to witness what was going on up there and it was pretty close to sheer crazed bedlam. Their lead singer, Lewis Lloyd, was all over the tiny stage, climbing on top of amps, jumping into the crowd, writhing and dancing like a manic contortionist. In any event, Plattenbau’s performance had just shattered the ceiling for best set thus far. The music itself—a dark, synth heavy, kraut rock post punk noise explosion—was a combination of disturbing rage and ecstatic glee. I knew immediately that if they were playing again, I would have to adjust my plans to see them again.
I felt bad for whatever band had to come on stage following that spectacle, but little did I know that next up was another band from Berlin and another Dedstrange recording artist Jealous (or J3alous, depending on where you’re looking). Jealous is led by vocalist/guitarist Paz Bonafil and bassist/vocalist, Dane Joe. Well let me just say that if Plattenbau had left any doors still on their hinges after their set, Jealous hit the stage and proceeded to blow those doors right out of there. They were absolute fire and a little bit of brimstone to boot. Their set was loud, abrasive, raucous, sexy, and generally out of control. Exactly how rock and roll should be. I now had a second band that I needed to make room to see once again that weekend.
Which brings me to my final band of night two, THUS LOVE. One doesn’t usually think of shoegaze when they think of Vermont, but THUS LOVE does and they do it quite well as a matter of fact. Admittedly, through no fault of their own their set suffered in the energy department following the chaotic sets from Plattenbau and Jealous, with their brand of sludgy drony guitar heavy shoegaze, but that’s who they are and they are quite honestly great at it. And just like that day two (for me at least) was in the books. With Friday’s shows starting at noon, there wouldn’t be a whole lot of sleep on the horizon so fingers were definitely crossed that the BQE would be smooth sailing back to Staten Island.
KAMIKAZE NURSE
BOY WONDER
SHRED FLINTSTONE
WYNONA BEACH
PLATTENBAU
J3ALOUS
THUS LOVE
Day Three, part one – Friday Afternoon, March 10th
Coming into day three, I knew I was in for a long one. My day would start with London’s Noah and The Loners at Berlin at noon and end at Mercury Lounge sometime around midnight with fellow London band, Ghum. In between the plan was for 13 bands at four separate venues. What exactly was I getting myself into?
Noah and The Loners just might have been the youngest of the bands which I got to see during the course of New Colossus, with all four band members clocking in at age 18 (or less). For their set at Berlin, it took the band a couple of tunes to work out the butterflies, but once they eased into their comfort zone, the band ROCKED! Make no mistake, if you’re a fan of loud, snotty Brit punk rock in the vein of fill in the bank with virtually any UK band from 1977/78, then you will love Noah and The Loners. They bill themselves as the punk sound of Gen Z and hands down these kids, Noah Lonergan (vox & guitar), Amber Welsh (bass & vox), Joe Boyle (guitar) and Noah Riley (drums) rock hard and loud with fun filled punk rock that also packs some powerful messages addressing topics that mean everything to the teens not only of the UK but worldwide. Topics like teen love, toxic masculinity, transphobia, racism, political corruption, and climate change were all addressed and shouted down within the Loner’s set. These kids are a band to which attention should be paid.
Following Noah would be Lauren Lakis, a dream pop outfit out of Austin, TX and Los Angeles. Lauren and her band offered up a nice nine song set which was highlighted by a screeching and soaring version of their just released single, “Take My Hand.” After their set, I quickly rushed over to Pianos to catch Bonnie Trash’s dark and brooding set in the Showroom. I would then catch electronica pop collective, Dirty Freud upstairs at Pianos who offered up an interesting and eclectic set. Then it was back downstairs to the showroom for Toronto psych rock band, Kali Horse, and after that was a quick jaunt back to Berlin for what would be three straight bands.
The first act, Singaporean pop band, Sobs, who put on a good set of sugary pop music. Next up would be one of my more anticipated bands of the weekend, Adwaith, from the town of Camarthen, Wales. Prior to listening to these women, I had never realized that the fine people of Wales had their own language, Welsh, which is completely different from the English which I always thought was their native tongue; you learn something new everyday! [Ed. Note: Welsh is a Celtic language spoken throughout Wales. Stay tuned for our upcoming interview with Adwaith.] The band, consisting of Gwenllian Anthony (bass/vocals), Hollie Singer (vocals/guitar) and Heledd Owen (drums), play a bouncy very danceable fun version of post-punk and all of their lyrics are sung in Welsh.
Their set at Berlin consisted of nine songs most of which were from their stellar 2022 release on Libertino Records, Bato Mato. Seeing the three members of Adwaith have an absolute blast on the tiny Berlin stage in the middle of the afternoon on a dreary mid March New York afternoon was certainly a sight to behold and no sooner was their fantastic set completed, then I was already looking forward to catching their second set of the festival the next afternoon. Dublin band, Silverbacks, had the unenviable task of having to follow Adwaith and they killed it with their eight song set of post punk anthems. With the polyrhythms of The Talking Heads crossed with the guitar dialogs of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd from Television, Silverbacks totally won me over.
To close out the afternoon portion on Friday, I headed back to Pianos Showroom for two more bands before I would grab some dinner. The first of two was UK rock and roller The Silver Lines. Formed a couple of years ago by the Ravenscroft brothers, Dan and Joe, these dudes know how to rock. They had the midday crowd at Pianos jumping all over the place throughout their super energetic set. And finishing the afternoon off was the art rock band from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Heaven For Real. With their bouncy infectious rhythms, they had the crowd swaying and grooving throughout their set and proved to be almost the perfect band to close out the afternoon. And just like that I was halfway through my Friday music marathon. But before things were to continue, I was going to enjoy a well deserved pastrami sandwich from world famous neighborhood deli, Katz’s.
NOAH AND THE LONERS
LAUREN LAKIS
BONNIE TRASH
DIRTY FREUD
KALI HORSE
SOBS
ADWAITH
SILVERBACKS
THE SILVER LINES
HEAVEN FOR REAL
Day Three, part two – Friday Night, March 10th
For Friday night, I would be spending the entire evening at The Mercury Lounge and first on the agenda was Brooklyn band, Slow Fiction. With a healthy crowd of friends and fans, lead singer Julia Vasallo and the rest of the band opened things up with an as yet unreleased song, “Monday,” followed by the lead track off of their recently released self titled EP. The band would ultimately play the entire EP to a crowd which was clearly well versed with the material (despite it only being less than a month old) as they sang and shimmied right along with the band word for word.
Coming on after Slow Fiction was another Brooklyn band, O.Wake. Again, the home court advantage for these locals served them very well as the crowd was quite familiar with the material and were by no means bashful about expressing this familiarity. In other words, O.Wake played their asses off with their funky, almost disco beat indie rock and the crowd ate it right up. Yet another local band, Namesake was to follow, this time from Ridgewood rather than Brooklyn. I was familiar with lead singer Patrick Phillips via his old band, Honduras, but didn’t know all that much about this new vehicle of his. Expecting more of the dark and sometimes abrasive post punk sound of that former band, I was quite surprised when Namesake presented material which was much brighter, peppier and downright up beat.
While their set ended up still displaying the post punk underbelly of their former selves, it is now presented in a bit more of a jangly fashion which worked great as far as my ears were concerned. Merely going off of the numerous band t-shirts being worn throughout the crowd, it was quite evident that most of the people at Mercury were in attendance to see the next band, from Austin, Blushing. Having played at last year’s New Colossus Festival, the band were old favorites and had the crowd on their side right from the get go. With set opener, “Surround (With Love),” off of their most recent LP, 2022’s Possessions, lead singer Christina Carmona started off with a quiet whisper like vocal atop her meandering bass line before Jake Soto jumped in with his pounding drum beat and from that moment on the band just kicked into a gear that just kept getting higher and higher. Blushing’s set was easily one of the most polished, fun and energetic sets of the weekend.
Closing my evening out was, Ghum, a band which I has been eagerly awaiting for some time. Quite honestly, if I had been able to go to only one show during this festival, it would have been to see London post punk band, Ghum. Since hearing their 2022 release, Bitter, I’ve been fixated on this band and who have a sound that is reminiscent of Savages. They opened their set with “Rivers,” the final cut from Bitter with its never ending guitar riff and pounding tom tom drum beat as backdrop for Laura Guerrero’s spoken word recitation of the words, “How can you be so evil, AND WHY!?” over and over. And so, hook line and sinker, I was had. The set would continue with a scratching version of “Get Up” from 2019’s EP The Coldest Fire, and they would play a healthy dose of songs from Bitter with a couple of deeper cuts added in for good measure. All in all, Ghum’s set was everything that I could have hoped for. And the good news was I was going to get an opportunity to check them out again on Saturday afternoon!
SLOW FICTION
O WAKE
NAMESAKE
BLUSHING
GHUM
Day Four – Saturday, March 11
Saturday afternoon was packed full and this string of sets promised to be an absolute pleasure being as most of the bands I planned to see on Saturday were repeats of previous days. I also got to sleep in a little later on Saturday being as the first set I intended to hit wasn’t until 1:45pm at Pianos Showroom. And as luck would have it, ALL of the bands I wanted to check out that afternoon were playing in the showroom at Pianos, so I pretty much set up camp when I arrived and settled in for what I expected to be a wonderful afternoon of glorious rock and roll.
Noah and the Loners started things off for me and whereas their set at Berlin the previous day showed the band to be (understandably so) a bit nervous, their set on Saturday was anything but. All four band members seemed to be relaxed and eager to enjoy the moment presented to them. Working off a setlist very similar to Friday’s, the band, to use a term which is very often overused, KILLED it. Starting with the crashing chords of “Just Kids,” an as yet unreleased track, they would then blow through another four or five unreleased songs before doing a blistering cover of The Sex Pistols’ “God Save The Queen” with a little bit of a change since, as Noah Lonergan bluntly stated, “but she’s dead now so now it’s God Save The King!”
At one point Lonergan asked from stage for suggestions as to what the band should do on their last day in New York City. Comically, Lawrence Fergus Goodwin from the band The Pleasure Majenta (more on them later) would yell out from the crowd “GO DRINKING!” Noah’s apologetic response was “unfortunately we’re not old enough to drink, I’m only 18.” To which, as if on cue, Noah’s mum who was in the crowd basking in her kid’s glory yelled out, “anyone know where they allow underage drinking in New York?” The band went on to close out their set with their two singles, “Teenage Tragedy” and “Protest Anger,” and just like that, four punk kids from London triumphantly—at least for one 48 hour period—took New York by storm.
The Pleasure Majenta were next up and while I’d been running into the various members of the band almost all weekend at other shows, I had yet to actually see them perform. They are another Berlin (by way of New Zealand) band signed to Dedstrange, and like the other bands that I’d already heard from the label this weekend, The PM fit in perfectly with the loud, abrasive and shambolic formula that Oliver Ackerman seems to be striving for with his new label. This trio of goth punks led by singer/guitarist Lawrence Fergus Goodwin put on a stellar set of noise infused punk which had the crowd of fans in a frenzy.
Following The Pleasure Majenta were their pals from Plattenbau, who as I previously mentioned, put on an incredible performance on Thursday night at Berlin. Well, performing in the middle of the afternoon did not present any kind of detriment to the band as the quartet slammed their way through their set with the ferocious energy of a band possessed. Jumping, writhing and shimmying all over the stage as well as in the crowd itself, lead singer Lewis Lloyd was absolutely mesmerizing as his bandmates provided a heavy bass and drum backbeat accentuated by pulsing synths to the utter delight of all who were there.
Adwaith took the challenge of following these three previous acts and raised the bar even further. Blazing through their set, they proved they could rock with the best of them. Guitarist and lead singer Hollie Singer and bassist/vocalist Gwenllian Anthony have been lifelong friends since they were mere toddlers and it is quite apparent as such watching them interact with one another on stage. Meanwhile drummer Heledd Owen, who has been with the band since its inception back in 2015, provides the backbone as well as the back beat which seems to keep the threesome in step. With a setlist of tunes quite similar to the one they played the previous evening at Mercury, they displayed an assured confidence that certainly propelled them into the hearts of the swinging and swaying crowd.
Next up was another of the Dedstrange artists which had wowed myself and many other audience members previously in the festival, Jealous. Donning a red latex nurses outfit, singer/guitarist Paz Bonfil and her onstage partner in crime, bassist Dane Joe, picked right up where they left off on Thursday night. With a set that was rowdy, raucous and rebellious, they once again had the crowd eating right from their hands. These women sure do know how to put on a show!
And to close out my Saturday was none other than Ghum. Coming off of their remarkable show the previous night, The band upped the anti by not only playing all of the songs from their Mercury setlist but on top of that they added off their most recent album, Bitter, two extra songs in “Echo” and “Some People.” While “Echo,” with its moody bass creates a bleak soundscape transfixed in the foreboding feeling of fear and regret, “Some People” features a pounding drum intro segueing into Jojo Khor’s reverb drenched guitar fills all while Marina MJ screeches out the words alternating between English and Spanish. Here we have even more fear and foreboding but in this case a much more aggressive and forceful version of the same.
And just like that, my Saturday of black lit punk and post punk, rock and sometimes roll, came to an end. Five out of the six bands were repeats and each and every one had taken the mantle from their previous sets and raised it to the next level.
NOAH AND THE LONERS
THE PLEASURE MAJENTA
PLATTENBAU
ADWAITH
J3ALOUS
GHUM
Day Five – Sunday, March 12th
My fifth and final day of the festival promised to be a hectic one as I planned on bouncing back and forth between Pianos (both the showroom as well as upstairs) and Arlene’s Grocery. Unfortunately, Sunday was the first day where I experienced scheduling issues. Understandably, the venue staffs and the band members themselves had at that point been going hard for the last four days straight. Many of these folks who put the thankless time and effort in for all of our listening pleasures were working on little to no sleep at all. As such, it’s not too surprising that things in certain cases might get off kilter and lose track of the schedule. Honestly when coordinating hundreds of set times in close to a dozen different venues, I was shocked these glitches hadn’t occurred sooner. All of that being said, the festival and venue staffs were amazing all weekend long and should get at least one huge shout out of thanks for making New Colossus 2023 possible!
But I digress. After having coincidentally run into an out of town friend outside of Katz’s, I arrived at Pianos Showroom just as His His was taking the stage. Not surprising being it was a Sunday noon set time, the room unfortunately was not very full but that didn’t stop the self described “lo-fi folk” band from Toronto from putting on a very entertaining set. I personally was thrilled to see for the first time all weekend, a lap slide guitar, not to mention a sax player as well. If one were familiar with the numerous singles which His His mastermind Aidan Belo has released on his bandcamp page, the moniker of “Lo-Fi Folk ” is quite apropos. However, with a five person band backing him up at Pianos, Belo’s songs came to life unlike anything in his recorded efforts. The set was full, robust and was quite a nice way to start off my Sunday afternoon (that still felt very much like morning considering daylight savings kicking in overnight).
Running quickly upstairs to catch Gossamer Blue’s set, I soon discovered that there was no rush due to some technical issues which were being worked out. After what turned into roughly a half hour delay, the band finally took the stage and offered up a competent and determined set of gloomy shoegaze sonic blasts. With things running behind at Pianos, I elected to see if I could catch Data Animal, another band in the Dedstrange stable of artists, over at Arlene’s Grocery. It is the project of Mitchell James O’Sullivan shredding on guitar backed by pre programmed loops of noise and the set was disturbingly dark, brooding, apocalyptic and absolutely astounding.
Back to Pianos, this time upstairs, I was able to catch most of Oh Imanuela’s set. Coming from the Mordor-like depths of Data Animal’s set at Arlene’s, walking into the sunshine laden upstairs room at Pianos was, if nothing else, eye opening. Add to this the visual metamorphosis, the startling contrast between the former band’s gloom and doom motif with vocalist Imanuela Oh’s bright and effervescent musical style, and you can say that Oh Imanueala’s set was a breath of fresh and revitalizing air.
Then it was another quick jump over to Arlene’s for Brooklyn based jangly shoegaze group Diary. With a set that leaned much closer in the direction of dreamy power pop than that of shoegaze, Diary treated the packed crowd to a nice mix of tunes mostly from their recent Kanine Records EP release, The Cutting Garden.
With the festival slowly but surely winding down, I still had a couple of bands to see and the next on my queue was a group out of Toronto, Keegan Powell. Named after lead singer Keegan Powell, with its two guitar attack, the group reminded me a great deal of their fellow Canadian forbearer Neil Young and his backing band Crazy Horse. Following their thundering set, I was able to rush downstairs to the showroom to catch most of Ten Minute Detour’s set. Hailing from Hamilton, Ontario, they offered up a set of country tinged rock which I’m sure would fit in perfectly at any of the clubs and bars on Broadway in Nashville. For this particular festival, with its heavy emphasis on the darker side of punk, they just seemed a trifle miscast. That’s not to say however, that they weren’t good. They were, but just a little out of place.
My second to last set of the festival was in the upstairs room at Pianos with Italian indie pop combo Her Skin. With a beautiful voice that filled the room with a feeling of warmth, lead singer, Sara and her three bandmates succeeded in transforming Her Skin’s music from the basic bedroom pop of her LPs to a much more lush and significantly less melancholy and sad sound.
Quite appropriately, I would finish off my five days of New Colossus with the band which I saw the most and easily enjoyed the most as well, Plattenbau. This crew of Berliners (although the quartet actually includes a Swede as well as an American in addition to two actual Berliners) succeeded every time I saw them in transforming the room into a high energy, jump up and down P.A.R.T.Y. They do not play a style of music that I naturally tend to gravitate to, but they still managed to make a believer out of me with their take no prisoners performance style. Needless to say, their set at Pianos Showroom on Sunday afternoon was not any less exhilarating than the two previous sets I had seen from them. Having started out as a three piece back in 2011, Plattenbau’s addition of Sally Brown on bass freed Lewis LLoyd up from bass duties and allows him to run free and rampage all over the stage and wherever his whims take him. Sunday’s set ws filled with the same let’s rock the shit out of this place that I’d previously experienced which begets the question, “Is this how it always is with this band?” I wouldn’t at all be surprised if the answer to that question was a resounding “Hell YEAH!”
HIS HIS
GOSSAMER BLUE
DATA ANIMAL
OH IMANUELA
DIARY
KEEGAN POWELL
TEN MINUTE DETOUR
HER SKIN
PLATTENBAU
And so, my time with New Colossus was over. 47 sets and five days later, my body ached and my head felt like mush but holy shit, was it fun! I make no bones about the fact that this was a quintessential experience of the festival. With as many venues and acts participating, it is humanly impossible for one person to cover it all. Truth be told, as good as these five days were for me, there was a LOT that I wish I had managed to get in which I just couldn’t pull off. When organizing my itinerary before the festival started, I made a tough decision that I would forgo many of the local artists in favor of the out of town acts, with the idea that the locals are just that, local. So I will always have an opportunity to catch them again (I hope). Nonetheless, I sure wish I’d been able to catch bands like Pons, Colatura, Beverly, Bummer Camp, and Jeanines to name just a few, but I’m only human. I wish that I’d had the stamina to hang in there for some of the later sets at night, but again, human…and a rather old one at that. But when all is said and done, I must say that my five day experience at New Colossus 2023 was absolutely awesome and while I might tweak my game plan a little next time, I have no real regrets whatsoever.
And on that note, thank you to all who helped put this behemoth of a festival together, you did good. See you all next year!
When posed with the prospect of doing a writeup on last Thursday’s sold out The Beths show at Brooklyn Steel, I must admit I was a bit perplexed. This would be my fifth writeup I would be doing on the band in the last 12 months. What could I possibly find to say that I hadn’t already put to paper. Of course these trepidations were relieved the moment Liz Stokes, Jonathan Pierce, Tristan Deck, and Benjamin Sinclair took the stage jumping right into the title track to their debut album from 2018, Future Me Hates Me.
Actually, my concerns were assuaged even before the band took the stage when their walk on music started. You’ve got to hand it to a band that has the sense of humor to walk out onstage to a video game style remix of one of their biggest songs. This is exactly what The Beths did with “Future Me Hates Me.” To add to this humor we were treated to the inflating of a giant fish which opener Sidney Gish had alluded to during her opening set just to the right of Deck’s drum riser. (NOTE: Although relatively little is known about the significance of this onstage prop from under the sea, supposedly it was nicknamed at last week’s Chicago show at Thalia Hall, Sidney Fish).
Speaking of Sidney Gish, her opening set was quite good. With just her, her guitar and a myriad of pedals and sequencers to back her up she played a roughly ten song set that did exactly what you want a warm up act to accomplish…get the audience’s attention, entertain them and lastly get them warmed up for the headliner all within a limited amount of time. Gish and her sarcastic and quite humorous stage banter did exactly that and I think it would be interesting to see what her set would sound like with a full backing band.
Moving along, back to The Beths. The band’s next tune, “Knees Deep” was one of my favorites from last year’s Expert In A Dying Field, which in turn was my favorite album of 2022. (Read more thoughts on the album here.) The band got about halfway through the third tune of the evening, “Out Of Sight” when Stokes abruptly stopped playing upon her noticing a member of the crowd was in need of assistance. Once the person was clearly safe and attended to, Stokes sheepishly inquired as to where the band should resume from and it was pretty much unanimous amongst her fellow band members, as well as the crowd, that starting from the top was the only way to go.
Next up was the first of five songs which I had not previously heard the band perform before. Another off of the latest album, “Your Side,” is a gorgeously flowing love song which Stokes nailed on vocals. Her ability to migrate from her regular singing voice to an angelic falsetto is truly something to behold.
Speaking of vocals, I know that I’ve mentioned in the past how good the vocals and in particular the harmonies sung by the three other members of the band have progressed over time; this progression has continued almost exponentially. Clearly, these four musicians from Auckland, New Zealand have spent a lot of time listening and studying the music of Southern California. So often throughout the evening, I could have closed my eyes and thought, “God damn, these vocals could be right off of The Beach Boys’s Endless Summer compilation.” I will be the first to admit that I wasn’t at all prepared for the incredible backup vocals from Pierce, Sinclair and Deck. Again, Southern California, specifically Laurel Canyon, and the harmonies of Crosby Stills and Nash came to mind.
The set throughout the night would progress, not surprisingly, with a heavy dose of tunes from Expert In A Dying Field, which was fine by me. Despite having caught the band three times in 2022, all of these shows were before the September release of the new album, so besides the singles which were released prior to the album dropping, there was still much material which I had yet to hear in a live setting and once again, Stokes and crew did not disappoint. Whereas The Beths’ setlists did not vary all that much last year, the setlist on Thursday night was almost half filled with songs which were not played last go around, including five songs which I’d never heard live: “Your Side”, “Best Left,” “I Want To Listen,” “Head In The Clouds” and “You Are A Beam Of Light.”
The Beths at Brooklyn Steel
Another pleasant surprise came about two thirds of the way through the show when Stokes pulled out an acoustic guitar for “When You Know You Know.” I could be mistaken but I don’t recall her ever playing acoustic guitar on stage on any of the band’s previous tours and it added a nice warm feel to the song, really opening the sound of the band up. Of particular note was Pierce’s lead guitar solo. ’d taken note throughout the night that his guitar fills had gotten much more innovative and dare I say complicated, but these were mere fills between verses. When the time for his solo during “When You Know” came around his fingerwork was down right prog-y. Not in the pretentious “look at me and my self indulgent guitar stylings” kind of way but more in a technical sense. His growth as a guitar player was clearly evident throughout the night.
And speaking of growth, once again, I can only gush over what I see as the incredible development The Beths have made as a touring band since that first night I saw them at Alphaville in 2018. Granted, Deck hadn’t yet joined the band on drums and Sinclair’s visa issues prevented him from making the trip to the US that tour, but as good as they were that night, it was clear that they were still figuring things out. Stokes, who I believe is stage shy to begin with, has grown into a much more self assured lead vocalist and leader of the band. While she will probably always (I hope) come off as being humbled to be where she and the band are, at this juncture she manages to exude a confidence and assurance that she and her three bandmates are where they are today because they worked hard to get there. They deserve to be there and most importantly are reveling in every moment while they are there.
I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but after starting their night off with the title track from their first album, and then playing the title track from their second album, Jump Rope Gazers roughly midway through their set, they finished their regular set with the title track off of their last album, “Expert in A Dying Field.” A wonderfully crafted pop song that would have been a huge hit if the modern day music world had any sense whatsoever.
Upon coming out for their encore, Stokes once again played her acoustic guitar for “You Are A Beam Of Light,” a deep cut off of the Jump Rope Gazers album. And once again, the old SoCal vibe came across loud and clear as she finger picked while her free floating voice transcended throughout the room of adoring and “pin drop” silent crowd. I say SoCal vibe this time around as the feel of Joni Mitchell circa 1968 was all over this one. Of course the band would never close things off on such a quietly somber, albeit beautiful note. Instead, they finished the night off with one more, a resounding version of “Silence Is Golden” with the once quietly attentive audience in full bore sing along mode.
And just like that it was over. But once again, The Beths had proven that they were ready, willing and more than able to move on to the next level. They’ve gone from being second bill in small DIY venues to headlining multi thousand person clubs almost without a bat of the eye. But even more than just accomplishing this feat is the fact that they’ve done it on their own terms without having had to sacrifice any of their artistic integrity. With tours coming up this summer supporting the likes of The National and Death Cab For Cutie, they will obviously be playing even larger venues still. I’ve got a strong suspicion that it won’t be long before it’s The Beths who will be headlining shows at these very same larger venues.
Scroll down for setlist, fan shot vids, pics of the show (photos by Ray Rusinak)
Setlist: Future Me Hates Me, Knees Deep, Out of Sight, Your Side, Best Left, Dying to Believe, Idea/Intent, I Want to Listen, Head in the Clouds, Jump Rope Gazers, Less Than Thou, When You Know You Know, I’m Not Getting Excited, Whatever, Little Death, Expert In A Dying Field Encore: You Are a Beam of Light, Silence Is Golden
