Category: New York City

Morrissey, Blondie 6/27/15

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(i) lineup

(1a) Blondie
(2b) Morrissey

(1a) (Blondie’s) setlist

  1. One Way or Another
  2. Rave
  3. Hanging On the Telephone (The Nerves cover)
  4. Call Me
  5. Maria
  6. A Rose By Any Name
  7. Rapture
  8. Heart of Glass
  9. The Tide is High (The Paragons cover)

(1b) highlights

  • dude, it was BLONDIE
  • Debbie Harry KNOWS WHAT’S UP
  • the Gay Marriage Act had just been passed in that week, so Debbie was up there with her rainbow flag and dancing around, celebrating it; it was adorable
  • apparently Debbie Harry was turning SEVENTY three days before the performance, which is PSYCHOTIC to me because she still sounded so, so good
  • a whole marching band came out during “The Tide is High,” like how precious is that

(1c) lowlights

  • I brought my nice Canon Rebel XS, but we had super far back seats in MSG and there was no jumbotron or feed whatsoever, so Blondie was, uh, super small for everyone in my section

(1d) overall thoughts

Seeing a super iconic artist like Blondie open for someone I love so much in crazy famous venue like Madison Square Garden is something you don’t forget. After all these years, the band still sounded strong. Yeah, their young, punky days have been over for awhile but there’s nothing like hearing “Heart of Glass” and “The Tide Is High” in Madison Square Garden regardless of everyone’s age. Blondie, and Debbie Harry in particular, totally killed it.

Bottom Line: Debbie Harry was 69 years old for this performance and more interesting than half the boring ass Brooklyn-based, leather-jacket-wearing, mediocre-ass opening bands I’ve seen in NYC.

(2a) (Morrissey’s) setlist

    1. The Queen Is Dead (The Smiths cover)
    2. Suedehead
    3. Staircase at the University
    4. Ganglord
    5. World Peace is None of Your Business
    6. Speedway
    7. Kiss Me A Lot
    8. Alma Matters
    9. I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris
    10. Everyday Is Like Sunday
    11. Istanbul
    12. Will Never Marry
    13. I Will See You in Far-Off Places
    14. Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed
    15. Kick The Bride Down the Aisle
    16. Neal Cassady Drops Dead
    17. The World is Full of Crashing Bores
    18. The Bullfighter Dies
    19. Meat Is Murder (The Smiths cover)
    20. What She Said (The Smiths cover)

Encore:

  1. Now My Heart Is Full

(2b) highlights

  • MORRISSEY!!!!!!
  • “THE QUEEN IS DEAD”!!! I WAS DEAD!!!
  • seeing the entirety of Madison Square Garden literally light up as the whole crowd belted out “Everyday Is Like Sunday” along with Moz will forever be burned into my retina; such a beautiful, wonderful, almost serenely perfect experience
  • “Ganglord” is stupidly funny to me and it’s totally not supposed to be, but I can’t get over it
  • all of MSG went “meatless” at the request of Moz, which I thought was cool, and “Meat Is Murder” was AMAZING
  • Moz took off his shirt and threw it into the crowd at the end, which I’d only basically read about in books at that point, so that was next-level living a dream

(2c) lowlights

  • at one point in between songs, Moz referenced how bright the theatre was, saying, “there’s a light in here…that never goes out” BUT THEN DIDN’T FUCKING PLAY “THERE’S A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT” LIIIIIKE, WTF?????!!!!???
  • again, there was no jumbotron or live feed, so Moz was like an inch tall – so much for bringing my nice camera for pics -____-

(2d) overall thoughts

Morrissey is basically a god to Smiths’ fans and to the rest of the world who doesn’t find him super insufferable, myself included. I’d been looking forward to this performance forEVER because Morrissey (of course) had cancelled a show at Barclays Center in Brooklyn a year earlier that I was supposed to go to. I was pretty freaking relieved more than anything that MSG agreed to go meatless and Moz actually showed up.

On one hand, this was an incredible performance and definitely one I’ll never forget. There seriously isn’t a better feeling than waiting for him to come on-stage and seeing the Queen give two middle fingers while “The Queen Is Dead” starts playing. Like, my freaking breath caught in my chest, I could barely stand it. The crowd was mostly really responsive and the stage design and lights were really solid. But on the other hand…I feel like Moz actively tries to annoy the crowd. It’s as if he performs better knowing everyone is annoyed with him. He played so much new material from his newest album World Peace Is None of Your Business, which I actually wouldn’t at all mind…if the album was actually good. (That’s mostly unfair – the album is fine, but nowhere near his previous works, but I digress.) Like, why not play “Hairdresser On Fire”? Or another solo song that everyone knows and loves and can dance too. I’m not saying I want an hour-long performance only of Smiths’ covers, but how fucked up can you get when you seriously reference a Smiths’ song in your between-song banter, but then not play it???? I love you, Morrissey, but my god.

Bottom Line: The memorable moments outweighed the bad at this Moz performance and at least he didn’t run off stage this time! Also he took off his shirt! What a time to be alive!

Joywave, The Kooks 6/24/15

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(i) lineup*

(1a) Joywave
(2b) The Kooks

*Atlas Genius played in between Joywave and The Kooks and they were alright – nothing good or bad to report either way. Just filler.

(1a) (Joywave’s) setlist

Setlist.fm doesn’t have the details, but I remember them playing maybe 5 or 6 songs. “Destruction,” “Tongues,” “Feels Like a Lie,” “Now,” and “Somebody New” were definitely ones I remember.

(1b) highlights

  • all the aforementioned songs
  • I love the Central Park Summerstage shows – cool environment, good food, generally a nice venue space

(1c) lowlights

  • the crowd didn’t move, as always; as if the entirety of New York is incapable of getting into a band or performance they didn’t immediately pay to see

(1d) overall thoughts

Joywave is best when they feel they need to earn the audience’s respect, I think. They work so hard to make even the most dead crowd move and get into the music. When the audience doesn’t respond, everything just becomes funny. I really remember Daniel calling out New York City crowds for being too cool to dance and my friends and I overcompensating by being super into it, which is always the best.

Bottom Line: Would definitely recommend not only seeing a band play in this Central Park venue, but everyone should absolutely see Joywave live if only for the small chance they play “Destruction” twice.

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(2a) (The Kooks’) setlist

    1. Around Town
    2. Ooh La
    3. She Moves in Her Own Way
    4. Seaside
    5. Always Where I Need to Be
    6. Sweet Emotion

Encore:

  1. Naive

(2b) highlights

  • again, the environment – the middle of Central Park is so beautiful at dusk
  • they didn’t play for long, but the whole crowd was super into it – again, my surprise as hugely popular The Kooks have become over the years
  • the sound and lights were on-point, which can be difficult in an outdoor venue – major props

(2c) lowlights

  • nothing really bad to say

(2d) overall thoughts

Much like their Firefly performance, The Kooks brought such a large sound to their Central Park stint. It’s funny – I remember thinking their set was so full-bodied and resonant with the crowd for just under an hour, but setlist.fm claims they played only seven songs. Isn’t it funny how having a good crowd with solid as hell songs can make me remember the experience differently? Hope The Kooks get even better and continue to put out even bigger sounding songs.

Bottom Line: The Kooks are cool and I swear I’m gonna find out how so many young people have embraced them nearly ten years after they debuted.

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Photo by Emily Tan

We Are Scientists 5/11/16

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(a) setlist

First set:

    1. Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt
    2. This Scene Is Dead
    3. Inaction
    4. Can’t Lose
    5. Callbacks
    6. Cash Cow
    7. It’s a Hit
    8. The Great Escape
    9. Textbook
    10. Lousy Reputation
    11. Worth The Wait
    12. What’s The Word

Second set:

  1. Rules Don’t Stop
  2. Buckle
  3. Chick Lit
  4. Classic Love
  5. I Don’t Bite
  6. Dumb Luck
  7. Impatience
  8. In My Head
  9. Make It Easy
  10. Nice Guys
  11. After Hours
  12. Too Late

(b) highlights

  • seeing the entirety of the CLASSIC album With Love and Squalor
  • Michael Tapper, the original drummer of WAS who played on the first album, came back to play the first set with Keith and Chris – this was the first time they all jammed since 2006/07ish; this made me strangely emotional because the first few times I saw WAS live, Michael was their drummer
  • that classic Keith and Chris between-song banter gives life to my soul
  • the entire second set was ON.POINT.
  • the crowd was shockingly good – seemed like everyone knew the new songs as well as the oldies
  • Keith Carne, the current WAS drummer, always freaking kills it
  • the phrase of the night: “it’s not a We Are Scientists show unless Keith breaks something and then we fear for his life”
  • “Too Late” is a brand new song, but somehow the perfect set closer, freaking loved it

(c) lowlights

  • wish they had played my current favorite song on the new album, “We Need a Word”

(d) overall thoughts

The first time I saw We Are Scientists, they opened for Arctic Monkeys (!) at the Henry Fonda in LA on March 15, 2006 (!). For 10 years, I’ve loved watching these dudes perform – anyone who’s seen them live would certainly agree. This show at Irving Plaza was a special 10-year anniversary celebration for the release of their debut album With Love and Squalor – the album that made a lot of people fall in love with them. Even better – the band still played a full set immediately following that With Love and Squalor performance. How sick is that?

Adding a wonderful flourish, Keith Murray and Chris Cain played With Love and Squalor with their original drummer Michael Tapper, who left the band before their second album was released in 2007. It felt like a strange blast from the past seeing him, and – in a bizarre way – made me realize how much We Are Scientists have stayed the same over the years. Yeah – they’ve grown as performers, musicians, and songwriters, but they’re still the same lanky dudes singing the same songs and making the same jokes. And that’s why they’re so awesome. It’s all fun in a familiar way, like hanging out with old friends.

The second set featured four new songs off their most recent album, which only came out last week, Helter Seltzer. The crowd was loving every minute of it and I was elated to finally feel like everyone was dancing just as much as I was. I got a good feeling about this album; its reception is gonna be stellar. Ultimately, I’m so proud of these dudes and I’ll continue to support them as long as they keep making awesome tunes and making me laugh – which I imagine will keep happening until death.

Bottom Line: I’ve been a WAS fan for a decade and there’s no sign of stopping. Also, if you claim to be a WAS fan and you don’t sing “if you’re the night sky, then act like the night sky” during “Nice Guys,” then you’re lying.

Conor Oberst 6/6/15

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(a) setlist

    1. Time Forgot
    2. Hundreds of Ways
    3. Zigzagging Towards the Light
    4. Classic Cars (Bright Eyes cover)
    5. We Are Nowhere and It’s Now (Bright Eyes cover)
    6. Enola Gay
    7. Double Life
    8. Danny Callahan
    9. No One Would Riot For Less (Bright Eyes cover)
    10. Governor’s Ball
    11. If The Brakeman Turns My Way (Bright Eyes cover)
    12. Shell Games (Bright Eyes cover)
    13. Another Travelin’ Song (Bright Eyes cover)
    14. Laura Laurent (Bright Eyes cover)
    15. Ladder Song (Bright Eyes cover)

Encore:

  1. Lover I Don’t Have to Love (Bright Eyes cover)
  2. Lua (Bright Eyes cover)
  3. I Don’t Want to Die (In the Hospital)

(b) highlights

  • seeing Conor for the first time after being a Bright Eyes fan since high school!
  • “Classic Cars”!! Omg!!
  • “Lover I Don’t Have to Love” = the O.G. angst ballad, so good
  • the entire performance being much more positive, less sad, and more energetic than I always imagined a Bright Eyes/Conor show being
  • realizing that Conor is kinda dorky and down-to-earth and not the tortured soul everyone thinks he is – that makes me happy

(c) lowlights

  • the crowd was legit the W.O.R.S.T. – so rude, so obnoxious, so Brooklyn
  • I try to avoid the Music Hall of Williamsburg when I can – always a bad crowd and, ironically, the venue feels so unsuited for live music; there’s so much dead space and acoustic holes

(d) overall thoughts

I first discovered Bright Eyes in high school, which is like saying “I learned to walk when I was a toddler.” I had a bit of a Bright Eyes phase and I stand by it – my favorite album of theirs to this day is probably 2007’s Cassadaga, which honestly has such lively and beautiful songs on it that feel both unlike the moody Bright Eyes everyone knows but still very reminiscent of all Conor Oberst’s work. I was beyond thrilled when he played not only so many Bright Eyes songs, but tracks specifically from that album. “Classic Cars” is my favorite from Cassadaga and I remember screaming when he started playing it – god, what an incredible feeling it is to hear that one song you’ve always loved but never thought you’d hear.

This show was a Governor’s Ball After Hours special, so the set was definitely geared to a New York crowd and people didn’t get a chance to make the festival. Unfortunately, because it was so late, more than half the crowd was super drunk, so obnoxious, and Conor was not having it. After a douchebag legitimately in 2015 yelled out “Freebird!” when Conor was talking, I thought he might walk off stage. Instead, he chewed the guy out, spit in the crowd, and kept going. More power to Conor, I say.

I think people have this preconception that Conor Oberst is the cry-baby, indie-emo singer to Bright Eyes just in the same way that Ben Gibbard is the cry-baby, indie-emo singer to Death Cab For Cutie. I kinda think that whole idea is bullshit, but whatever – to each his own. I can pretty definitively say, however, that Conor was gregarious, smiling, and a showman; there wasn’t a dark, dingy stool in sight. I was pleasantly surprised at the overwhelming feeling of joy in the songs and undeniable lightness to all that heart in them as well.

Bottom Line: I would definitely recommend people give Conor a chance; if you’ve ever even thought that one Bright Eyes or Conor Oberst song was good, you’ll dig his live show.

Other Lives 5/30/15

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(a) setlist

    1. Reconfiguration
    2. Easy Way Out
    3. As I Lay My Head Down
    4. Land Forms
    5. Desert
    6. 2 Pyramids
    7. Pattern
    8. For 12
    9. Tamer Animals
    10. English Summer
    11. Dark Horse
    12. Weather
    13. For The Last

Encore:

  1. Black Tables
  2. Something In The Way (Nirvana cover)
  3. Great Sky
  4. Dust Bowl III

(b) highlights

  • seeing Other Lives for the first time and not being disappointed!
  • the wonderful use of horns on several tracks – never over-powering, always just the right amount
  • loved the band’s use of strings
  • Jesse Tabish is an interesting frontman, an understated performer who still leads
  • how their “middle plains dust bowl”-vibe was actually authentic and not annoyingly put-on like Mumford & Sons or nonsense like that

(c) lowlights

  • a random drunk chick in the audience who was annoying and needed to go home

(d) overall thoughts

I had only ever heard a song or two by Other Lives before this show. My roommate is a big fan and considers the band local hometown heroes, seeing as she – like the band – hails from Oklahoma. It can be strange going into a show with no real idea how things will turn out, but I thoroughly enjoyed Other Lives. They walk this unique line of being a rock band with an alternative dust-bowl, not-quite-country edge and add a brass and strings section. And it totally works.

Their live show is a bit ethereal and intimate, personal and large-sounding at the same time. The Bowery Ballroom is a small venue, but I felt like the music could’ve beautifully filled a place like Carnegie Hall, or even bigger. The lights were coordinated to the sound in a perfect way; it felt like we had journeyed together through something real and emotional by the end of it.

Bottom Line: More people should know about Other Lives – they’ve got a huge, unique sound while still remaining intimately close with the audience, and that’s cool.

 

Kaiser Chiefs 5/13/15

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(a) setlist

    1. The Angry Mob
    2. Ruffians on Parade
    3. Everything is Average Nowadays
    4. Everyday I Love You Less and Less
    5. Falling Awake
    6. Modern Way
    7. Na Na Na Na Naa
    8. Never Miss a Beat
    9. My Life
    10. Take My Temperature
    11. Ruby
    12. I Predict a Riot
    13. Pinball Wizard (The Who cover)
    14. Coming Home

Encore:

  1. Misery Company
  2. Oh My God

(b) highlights

  • being front row center in the super small and intimate Irving Plaza = gold
  • hearing “Falling Awake” for the first time!!
  • basically the whole damn setlist, let’s be real
  • Ricky Wilson being his most Ricky Wilson self
  • going to the show with my friend who’s been a fan as long as me, but who had never seen KC; it was amazing to be there with her experiencing it all
  • Simon Rix personally handing me his (bass) guitar pick before the encore, such a freaking cool dude

(c) lowlights

  • it was the end of their tour for Education, Education, Education & War and you could tell the band was a little tired
  • would’ve loved to hear my favorite song off the newest album, “Bows & Arrows”

(d) overall thoughts

God, I will always love Kaiser Chiefs. I loved them pretty much the moment I heard their first song “I Predict a Riot” back in 2005 and became enamored with them and their buddy-buddy relationship with The Killers during the NME Tour in 2005. To me, they will always be the babes of my 14-year-old summer and I love that they’re still making music now – and freaking great music at that.

This show at Irving Plaza shines so brightly in my mind because this show – like all Kaiser Chief experiences – was full of so much joy. The energy is always so high when Ricky Wilson is involved, and the songs over the years have made it so easy for everyone else to give their energy to the performance too. That’s what’s so great about seeing a band like this; the audience becomes part of the performance too. Everyone’s jumping and losing themselves in all those Employment oooooooooohhhhhh!‘s, working just as hard as Ricky and all the guys are. At least, that’s how I feel most of the time. They show up to perform, so I better step up and start dancing too.

As I said, this was the end of the tour for their fifth album, Education, Education, Education & War, which I freaking loved. It’s truly a pleasure as a fan to seriously love a band so much at such an important age – like when you’re in high school – and have them continually put out outstanding music. I watched as critics and naysayers worried that the band’s work would plummet after the original drummer and one of the band’s main writers, Nick Hodgson, announced he was leaving the band in late 2012. But I knew things would be fine. And they were. How could I not love a band that both repeatedly releases bombass songs and always puts on such a fun and energetic live show? It also means so much to me that Ricky, Simon, and Whitey in particular have noticed the fans – like myself – who come out to all their shows and have a good time. Man, that means so much and always keeps me coming back for more.

 

Bottom Line: Yeah, Ricky Wilson was on the UK version of The Voice, who freaking cares when the songs are still solid as all hell and the band continually puts on awesome, high-energy shows? This girl doesn’t care and no one else in that happy crowd did either.

We Are Scientists (Surfer Blood Benefit) 5/12/15

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(a) setlist

    1. After Hours

(b) highlights

  • seeing a looooot of bands I otherwise wouldn’t have
  • helping raise money for a good cause
  • literally watching a two and a half hour show just to see We Are Scientists play “After Hours” = worth it

(c) lowlights

  • cancer sucks

(d) overall thoughts

Even though I’ve never really known much about the band Surfer Blood, I remember when I first read that their guitarist Thomas Fekete was battling cancer. The whole story was pretty devastating, and this show was put together as a benefit for both him and the band to come together to help pay some of his medical bills. What a world we live in where that happens.

Surfer Blood and We Are Scientists weren’t the only bands to play, so we also got to see peeps like Julianna Barwick, Cults, Marnie Stern, Kip Berman of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Andy Boay, and others. It was a small taste of all these people who knew Surfer Blood and Tommy well, so it was a bittersweet experience.

We Are Scientists were their usual selves, seemingly stumbling onstage in ripped up t-shirts probably purchased at K-Mart and just roaring into one of their instant classics, “After Hours.” Does anyone not love that song? If anyone says they don’t, they’re lying. Fact.

Bottom Line: Cancer sucks, but it’s cool when people get together to jam and raise money.

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Muse 5/8/16

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(a) setlist

    1. Psycho
    2. Dead Inside
    3. Supermassive Black Hole
    4. The Groove
    5. Madness
    6. Apocalypse Please
    7. Interlude
    8. Hysteria
    9. Stockholm Syndrome
    10. Animals
    11. New Born
    12. Uprising
    13. Time Is Running Out
    14. Reapers

Encore:

  1. Bliss
  2. Starlight
  3. Knights of Cydonia

(b) highlights

  • seeing Muse in the smallest venue I’ve EVER seen them in = amazingggg
  • straight up being at that show; it had sold out in about 0.0343 seconds and s o m e h o w I got tickets – to this day, I never know how that happened
  • “Apocalypse Please”!!! “Bliss”!!! “Stockholm Syndrome”!! “The Groove”!! “New Born”!!! “HYSTERIA” whaaaaaat
  • Starting out in the 10th row at the beginning of the show and ending up in the 2nd row by the 3rd song just by pure crowd energy and movement = magic
  • knowing that a band that uses production so, so heavily can still shine in a tiny, stripped-down venue without any production whatsoever, my god
  • got Matt Bellamy’s guitar pick…from the literal sky out of nowhere

(c) lowlights

  • I have never sweat so much in my entire life, I swear to God – Webster Hall had never been so damn hot and there were so many people, I looked like I had jumped into a pool

(d) overall thoughts

This show was magic. I couldn’t even believe I was there. It was one of those shows that felt like everyone on Earth was trying to going to, and Webster Hall is so small and it was just crazy. Tickets were will call only, so all our names were on a list and it was honestly unbelievable to see my name on that piece of paper. God, what a feeling.

As I mentioned previously, Muse is one of my all-time favorite bands and I’ve seem them many times over the years. But I’d never seen them like this. A band so strongly associated with huge lights, sounds, screens, smoke, cameras, and all that jazz totally taken away just to have three dudes on stage playing massive songs – the only thing that remained massive in that small venue. The new songs were amazing to me, the older songs were such a treat  – each moment felt like a string of gifts connecting to the next melody. What a time.

To put a total cap on the whole event, as I’m standing there after the show has ended, still trying to process everything that happened, a flash of yellow falls from the sky in Webster hall and lands a foot away from me. I divebomb on it in my prototypical ungraceful way, and my God – it’s Matt Bellamy’s used guitar pick. Where did it come from? How did it end up 20 feet from the stage in an open arena where I’m looking like a mess? Don’t know, don’t care. That’s magic.

 

Bottom Line: There’s something so strangely emotional about the impact this show had on me, and there’s so much more I could say about it, but all that really matters is that it was incredible to me.

PILE 4/28/16

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(a) setlist

    1. The World Is Your Hotel
    2. Mr. Fish
    3. Baby Boy
    4. The Browns
    5. Special Snowflakes
    6. Grunt Like a Pig
    7. Pets
    8. Appendicitis
    9. #2 Hit Single

(b) highlights

  • love the hell out of Baby’s All Right – cute, intimate, solid venue
  • this hilarious moment of my friend spending the whole night falling in love with a dude who was dramatically leaning up against the prototypical Brooklyn exposed-brick wall…who turned out to be the lead singer of PILE
  • going to a show and seeing a band I literally know nothing about and having a great time

(c) lowlights

  • 15-year-olds wearing backpacks and unnecessarily moshing…actually, that was funny

(d) overall thoughts

I ended up at this show by accident, which is always kind of great. A friend of mine was BFF’s with the opening act – a solid dude named Yaz who’s into the whole 70’s psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll shindig and he was cool. Turned out, he had been playing guitar in PILE for a tour or two, so we stuck around for them. They’re Boston-based, which sort of comes through in their performance, but I’m pretty sure that’s 70% based on their beards, outfits, and one of them vaguely saying, “So…we’re from New England.” They were post-hardcore punkish – whatever that means – but, in a strange way, they reminded me of a bunch of pseudo-emo kids who were really into the slower, smarter Blink 182 songs (whichever ones those are) and maybe the sadder Offspring songs (again, do those exist?? somehow, I feel like they do).

The show felt small and intimate in a way that you consciously think, “I’m seeing something special that no one else really knows about right now…and that’s nice.” There’s passion and real emotion behind the occasionally erratic guitar and always erratic drums, and I would definitely aim to catch these guys again. Yeah, you can jump around and connect with the punk-ish roots, or you can directly connect to the emotion behind those songs – there’s a bit for everyone when it comes to PILE.

 

Bottom line: They’re not the second coming of Nirvana or anything, but PILE’s got the guitar chops, rock ‘n’ roll attitude, and sad grunge-y undertone of real heart to reel you in.

Note: I actually took many more pictures than this – I vividly remember most of them, but I think my computer ate them. This is somehow most fitting for this show. Even more of a secret now.

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Joywave 4/9/15

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(a) setlist

    1. Destruction
    2. Destruction
    3. Now
    4. Parade
    5. Feels Like a Lie
    6. Somebody New
    7. Tongues

(b) highlights

  • those dudes actually played “Destruction” twice, hahahaha
  • going to a show only for the opening band has its perks – you leave when they’re done!
  • seeing Joywave totally command a room of people who weren’t even there to see them
  • no, really, they played “Destruction” twice

(c) lowlights

  • having to be in such close proximity to Bleachers’ fans, who turned out to be the worst

(d) overall thoughts

I don’t often go to shows only to see the opening band, but I do that when the opening band is Joywave. They opened for Bleachers at Terminal 5, and even though I had absolutely no interest in seeing Bleachers, I knew I couldn’t miss Joywave. I first discovered them when they opened for The Killers in August 2014 and it’s been really cool to watch them rise since then. They hadn’t even put out a full album at this point, but did have one of the best damn EP’s I’ve ever heard: How Do You Feel? Most of the songs they played were featured on that EP, and eventually comprised half the album they released later that year, How Do You Feel Now?

The most important thing to know about Joywave is that they really don’t give a fuck. It’s less than a little known secret that the band is obsessed with themselves and their song “Destruction,” in particular. The whole thing is sort of obnoxious and ridiculous and stupid, but 100% hysterical. Singer Daniel Armbruster not only demands that the audience jump, touch the floor, and scream for this song, but agree with him that is so-called “the greatest song ever written.” So the band opened with “Destruction.” But because not every member of the audience (who did not pay to see Joywave – with the exception of me, my friend, and maybe 3 other people) danced and moved and followed directions during the song, they played it again. God, I was laughing so hard. What a band.

Most importantly, Joywave is hysterical, yeah, but their songs kick ass. Every song sounds different, but every song sounds like them – a quality I find so, so uncommon in modern rock and indie music these days. These guys got heart and they’re still rising. Can’t wait to keep watching that.

 

Bottom line: Joywave have great freaking songs, but they will bully you into dancing along to them, which I am 100% okay with.