Canadian indie rock collective Broken Social Scene closed out their 2022 North American tour with two sold out nights at Webster Hall in New York City. Near the end of the final show, the band surprised fans by inviting Tracey Ullman and Meryl Streep on stage to sing “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl.” The show was a huge hit with fans both nights, and the last-minute addition was the cherry on top.
Jasmyn opened both nights with soothing yet passionate beats and vocals.
Jasmyn Performing at Webster Hall, photograph by David Reichmann
From the moment Broken Social Scene walked onstage until the last moment of the show, the floor was shaking and fans were gleefully sweating and screaming through to the end. The band’s fan interactions are always a treat, and bandmate Kevin Drew took some time to snap a few selfies on a fan’s phone each night.
Alt-rock group Mother Mother returns to an even bigger crowd in Buffalo on October 15, with Buffalo Riverworks packed with both new and old fans.
Photo Credit: Maddie McCafferty
The well-known “out-of-box” foursome Transviolet opened up the show. This pop-rock band consists of Sarah McTaggart, Mike Panek, Jon Garcia, and Judah McCarthy. All of which are all too familiar with working alongside various musicians. They easily got the crowd hyped up with McTaggart’s chilling vocals and infectious energy.
Photo Credit: Maddie McCafferty
The viral indie-rock band Vundabar followed up Transviolet. The trio of Brandon Hagen, Drew McDonald, and Zack Abramo managed to keep the fun alive. This was especially so when they played their hit “Alien Blues.”
Photo Credit: Maddie McCafferty
Earlier in 2022, Mother Mother performed at the Town Ballroom. Buffalo fanbase is so extremely loyal to this group that they made a return only 9 months later. This seemingly rapid growing band is composed of Ryan Guldemond (vocals, guitar), Molly Guldemond (vocals, synth), Jasmin Parkin (vocals, keys), Ali Siadat (drums), and Mike Young (bass).
Immediately when the group encapsulated the stage and aura washed over the venue. This band is able to bring theatrical and ethereal qualities. They opened up their performance with their songs “Verbatim” and “O My Heart.” The way Ryan, Molly, and Jasmin are able to move across stage and layer their vocals over one another creates an eeriness.
Photo Credit: Maddie McCafferty
The dark lighting and build up from one song to the next helped set the mood in Riverworks. The mystic vocals of Molly had the crowd in awe when she covered Radiohead’s “Creep,” which was especially impressive. Mother Mother is a constant reminder of what it means to never give up on your dreams. Ryan shared how the band originally started by him writing songs alone in his bedroom. He then told everyone in the crowd that despite what anyone else might think, “if you have a dream, keep chasing it and wreck any obstacles that stand in the way.” He shared that’s what gave him inspiration for their song “Wrecking Ball.”
Mother Mother then closed out their show in Buffalo with their songs “Hayloft II” and “Ghosting.” Both of which are fan favorites and left everyone screaming the lyrics.
Photo credit: Maddie McCafferty
Make sure to keep up to date with upcoming shows at Buffalo Riverworks. I Prevail and Pierce the Veil perform November 20.
Setlist: Verbatim, O My Heart, Bit by Bit, Infinitesimal, Body of Years, Creep (Radiohead cover), The Stand, Back in School, Burning Pile, Problems, Sick of the Silence, It’s Alright, Arms Tonite, Body, Wrecking Ball, Oh Ana, Hayloft/ Girl Alone, Hayloft II
Several Western New York musical groups performed on the main stage at Barker Commons park in Fredonia on Saturday, September 24 for a yearly event hosted by Fredonia Radio Systems, Rockin’ the Commons. A line-up of local bands including BP & the Oil Spills, Capo II, as well as SUNY Fredonia-based musical groups, such as the all-female acapella group, Some Like It Hot, participated in the day of music.
Rockin’ the Commons flyer
Some Like It Hot, also dubbed “the Hotties”, feature rock, pop, and hip hop songs, coordinated by either a former or current group member, sung in their performances. The acapella perform at many schools across New York during the academic semester.
Some Like It Hot acapella group at Rockin’ the Commons
Another group who took the stage at Rockin’ the Commons was duo, Capo II. Hailing from Buffalo, Augie Bates and Andrew Anable deliver a spectrum of prototypical pieces, consisting of vocalized harmonies, a broad range of instrumentals, tap dance percussion and pedals (sustained notes played and typically held in bass, which serve as a dissonance from the other notes).
Capo II members, Augie Bates and Andrew Anable
Started up in Kaisertown, other Buffalo-based band, BP and the Oil Spills, is comprised of members, song-writer Nathan Kohler, drummer Alex Gennaro, bass Charlie DeRose, and founder Blaise Przybyla.
The group commonly performs at various venues in Buffalo, and has performed at Fredonia for several shows, throughout the past few years. Their most recent singles, “Carpe Diem” and “Unrequited” hold thoughtful lyrics and contain elements of a multitude of genres, spanning from pop, prog, and blues to punk, grunge, and funk, and more.
Cover for BP & the Oil Spills’ single, “Carpe Diem”
The line-up at Rockin’ the Commons also included a few more Buffalo-based bands, Johnny and the Man Kids, Marquee Grand, as well as musicians based in Fredonia, Hals and Pals and all-male acapella group, Much More Chill.
SG Lewis performed at The Westcott Theater on October 11 as their official fifth stop during their 2022 Tour. SG Lewis is a London-based singer and song writer; his music produces an electronic, dance-oriented groove and dedicates his music to club culture.
Lewis is originally from Reading, England and began his music career after many years experimenting as a teenager. It only began in 2014 for SG hopping from various bands as he moved in his own direction, Lewis’s first EP Shivers was released in 2015.
Mindchatter opened, with a similar electronic pop groove. Bryce opened with some of his top hits “I can change” and DJ mix “It’s been you”. It was the perfect way to rise the vibe before the crowd broke loose for well known SG Lewis. The Westcott Theater provided the perfect dance floor for the show last Tuesday evening. With a youthful crowd, fans were excited that SG was visiting Syracuse as one of his many stops.
The London performer sung top releases and collaborative songs featuring artists JP Cooper, Bruno Major, Frances, Clairo, LANY among others. Leaning over the barricade was a screaming SG, and the crowd blew up for the band. The set also featured songs “More Than A Woman” (Paradise edit featuring Bees Gees), hit release “One More” (feat. Nile Rodgers) and one more of many “Heartbreak on The Dance floor” (feat. Frances).
Overall, SG Lewis and the band seemed to have kicked off a good start to their tour. Lewis continues to inspire the music industry and welcome the crowd and thank his fans for support. SG Lewis has a great way of captivating his audience and giving the fans a good time and a memorable show.
This past Friday, October 14 ZZ Top brought 50 years of Rock to Albany’s The Palace Theatre for the first time.
Austin Meade from Austin, Texas opened for ZZ Top. Meade is an electric performer whose music has a very hard-rock feel. Known for his intensity on the drums and guitar, Meade currently has four rock albums. His latest effort — Abstract Art of an Unstable Mind — released on the day of the concert. Meade debuted a song off that album during his performance.
Meade opened up to a warm reception at promptly 8 o’clock. His guitarists seemed to want to grab the crowd’s attention, playing with extra vigor whenever Meade approached center stage. Meade performed for about 30 minutes before ending with his hit single, “Happier Alone.” In this performance, he added in lyrics from Dua Lipa’s, “Don’t Start Now,” to end the song, and ending his set.
An older crowd welcomed ZZ Top to Albany with a thunderous ovation. Everyone was on their feet as a new-look ZZ Top took the stage. Last year, lead bass player Dusty Hill died in his home in Houston at the age of 72. Before his passing, he wished for the band to go on. ZZ Top’s guitar tech, Elmwood Francis assumed the position. This was Albany’s first time seeing Francis rock out live on stage.
There was not any mention of Dusty Hill during their hour and 15-minute set. The vibes were positive as Billy Gibbons, ZZ Top’s lead vocalist and guitarist, repeatedly asked “are y’all having a good time?” They played of their greatest hits from the last 5 decades including “Give Me All Your Lovin,” “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Brown Sugar,” and “Pearl Necklace.”
ZZ Top had left the stage, but not a single person left the theatre. They returned quickly with sporting sparkling red jackets. They closed the show playing “La Grange” with fluffy white guitars and a barrage of bubbles.
The ZZ Top tour continues in Port Chester, NY on October 18th at The Capitol Theatre. If you cannot catch them there, they have a strip of shows in Las Vegas from December 3rd-10th at The Venetian.
Local to Syracuse, the band Trauma Cat has recently just dropped their newest album The Truth Doesn’t Live Here, which we released on Friday, October 7th. Award-winning indie alternative band making a name for themselves by stating that they are “America’s sorriest power trio.” Along with this, they will be playing at The Range in Ithaca on October 22nd.
This LP marks the Syracuse-based band’s second full-length collaboration weighing in at a whopping 19 tracks. The unauthorized double album features six singles previously released in 2022: “Better Questions,” “Tsai Shen,” “Bunnyhole,” “Popcorn Machine,” “Get It All Out (Online),” and “The Reporter.”
Songs like “The Truth Doesn’t Live Here” arrive also on the heels of a five-part online “dox-u-series” called “The Truth About Trauma Cat,” a cheeky satire of internet culture, deepfake technology, and simulation theory that teases a definitive identity reveal of the band’s members (known as Ralph Kojig, Roman Pando, and Rutger DiBoyere).
“When we say ‘the truth doesn’t live here,’ we mean that we are all inhabiting a post-truth world,” says guitarist Kojig, who shares primary songwriting and frontman duties with bassist Pando. “While it’s possible that the majority of our society once recognized an objective truth, it’s pretty clear now — in the face of so many false or dubious claims — that we never had a monopoly on reality anyway, I’m sorry to say.”
“And there’s something hilarious and freeing about that,” adds Pando. “That strange liberation is what provoked Ralph and I to write the songs that would end up on this record. The result is something deeply inquisitive, and yet, with apologies to our audience, we still have no answers — except, obnoxiously, that there are no answers. Sorry!”
The songs on the album that I recommend are “The Truth Doesn’t Live Here,” which doubles down on Trauma Cat’s signature blend of music taste. The song combines a progressive rock with shades of post-punk, shoegaze, and power-pop. Similarly, “Better Questions” and “Pray the Gay Away” are another two amazing blend of alternative genres that speak to the chaos of the record’s core theme.
“The Truth Doesn’t Live Here” is available now on all streaming platforms. To listen to their newest hits, click the link here.
A tick before midnight on Saturday October 15, brains splattered on the wall, a mix of sweat and beer wet the floor, as a stunned crowd shuffled out of the Bug Jar, eyes-glazed. Such was the aftermath from the headlining set from French trio SLIFT.
Comprised of brothers Jean and Remi Fossat on guitar and bass, and high school friend Canek Flores on drums, SLIFT was rounding the home-stretch of their first ever North American tour. Their most recent release, Ummon, arrived just before the pandemic shutdowns. The set pulled exclusively from that material, though nearly 3 years old, it of course arrived to the sold-out Rochester audience farm fresh. Each note, each beat, every howl, served and consumed with reckless abandon.
After limb-loosening and ear-pleasing sets from local openers The Ginger Faye Bakers and Haishen, the trio took the stage. Jean dialed up an undulating drone from his electronics panel, which sped into an alien beam before the band exploded into “Ummon”. Guitar, drums and bass a raging ball of energy. The crowd responded in kind, jumping, fist pumping, bodies bouncing off bodies, feet stomping on feet, elbows jabbing chests. But there was no time for apologizing, just move or be moved.
Digital patterns and images frenetically displayed behind the band. Like a sonic mood ring, they seemed to match the music’s energy. Reds and whites flashed during the heavier head-banging moments. When “It’s Coming” kicked into a more head-bobbing psychedelic groove, oranges and greys emerged. Mellower still, brought blues and yellows. A meaty “Century on a Satellite” > “Hyperion” mid-set had the band moving freely between high-energy metal, long bass-led grooves, electronics-heavy sections, and slow-developing climaxes. The colorful displays followed all along the way, yellows shifting to oranges intensifying into reds.
When a band calls out their last song, it’s always welcome when that song goes for 15 minutes. A show-closing “Lions, Tigers and Bears” delivered on all fronts. Remi’s incredible bass playing reached a fever pitch, carrying a his brother through frenetic guitar solos and spacey electronics noodling. Flores’ drums built up to one final explosion and the whole ordeal collapsed gloriously. Then one last we’re-not-quite-done-yet droning exploration extended the evening until it all fizzled out for real. At just over an hour it wasn’t enough to sate the packed house, but pleas for an encore went unrewarded. Zut alors!
London-based, indie-jazz artist Puma Blue performed alongside Houston artist Hamond at Baby’s All Right on Oct. 15, headlining two performances after supporting Arlo Park’s Collapsed in Sunbeams Tour. Returning to the venue where they first performed in the US over 3 years ago, Puma Blue supplied the audience with lush, lo-fi jazz and R&B music for the hour-long set.
The night began with a similarly moving performance by Hamond, whose album, Pirate Radio, released this past June. Alone with a guitar and MIDI keyboard controller, he filled the 280-capcity venue of soul-stirring melodies with every chord. Hamond performed songs off the aforementioned LP, dazzling the crowd early in the night and showcasing his musical finesse, backed by cinematic pop beats.
Hamond, 2022 Photo by Parker Alexander
After a short break between sets, Puma Blue came on stage. They traversed an intricate 15-song set, featuring songs from their debut album, In Praise of Shadows, and two EPs released in 2017 and 2019. Two new, unreleased songs were played.
“Pretty”, was gentle and tranquil, reminiscent of “Only Trying 2 Tell You”. “Light That Is Gone” featured a riff with glimmers of Jeff Buckley’s “Dream Brother”, who Puma Blue’s singer, Jacob Allen, has cited as a central influence on his work (even playing a Fender Telecaster that Buckley had regularly performed with).
The group’s newly released song “Hounds” also made an appearance during the show. The brooding bass line reverberated across the snare and into the crowd, a highlight of the night. Finishing off with “(She’s) Just A Phase” and an accompanying raucous applause, Puma Blue concluded their fall supporting and headlining show schedule.
More music was teased to come (likely next year) and they undoubtedly will make a stop in New York.
Puma Blue | Baby’s All Right | Brooklyn, NY | October 15, 2022
Setlist: Midnight Blue, Soft Porn, Velvet Leaves, Already Falling, Snowflower, Lust, Oil Slick, Pretty, Bath House, Bruise Cruise, Light That Is Gone, Hounds, Moon Undah Water
Veteran club owner, concert promoter and sometimes filmmaker Peter Shapiro is drawing back the curtain on a career that encompasses nearly three decades and 10,000 shows in his new memoir, The Music Never Stops(Hachette Books).
Peter Shapiro is the man behind venues like Wetlands Preserve, Brooklyn Bowl (located in Williamsburg, Las Vegas, Philadelphia and Nashville) The Capitol Theatre and a bevy of tours and festivals including The Grateful Dead’s 50th anniversary Fare Thee Well and LOCKN’ and films like U2 3D to name but a few. Beginning with his work at Wetlands, Shapiro can lay claim to being a central figure in keeping alive and expanding the cult around the Grateful Dead and the many “jam bands” that emerged in their wake. For all his Dead credentials, people sometimes forget that Shapiro also played a vital role in exposing this huge base of open-minded fans to diverse artists like hip hoppers The Roots, rapper Talib Kweli, Americana great Jason Isbell, bluegrass innovators Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle, jazz guitarists John Scofield and Stanley Jordan and countless more.
Shapiro’s journey began after seeing a Grateful Dead show in Illinois in March 1993. It was something that inspired him and a friend to take to the road to film Deadheads in their natural habitat during the band’s summer tour. Things didn’t go too well at first due to his crew being mistaken for D.E.A. agents because of their rental vehicle of choice – a white-panel van sans windows. His love of the Dead community would soon lead him to a job at Wetlands Preserve, the downtown NYC club dedicated to improvisational music and environmental activism founded by Larry Bloch. By age 23, he became a minority owner; a year later he assumes full ownership and is one the first giant step in a long and still percolating career.
Peter Shapiro
The 50 chapters of Shapiro’s book are titled and dedicated to some of his most memorable shows, beginning with The Dead’s 50th Anniversary Fare Thee Well at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara in July 2015. As the last song of the first set ended, a giant rainbow broke out over the crowd. The promoter joked that he paid $50,000 to create the effect, a quip that got reported as fact in a review in Variety. The Dead’s drummer Mickey Hart said: “Not even Bill Graham could do that!”
The early part of the book deals with the ups and downs and incredible evenings at Wetlands. These include the 10th anniversary show where Bob Weir jammed with Hanson, the unmatched 21 show run by Disco Biscuits, the Black Lily Jams with Questlove and the new talent, like Jill Scott and India.Arie, who emerged with the opening of club’s Downstairs Lounge. The heartbreak of the closing of Wetlands would come around 9/11, but not before a stellar lineup of farewell shows and jams featuring club favorites like The Spin Doctors, Rat Dog, DJ Logic and Stanley Jordan.
Some of the best parts of the book deal with Shapiro’s matter of fact communication of his struggles and occasional failures. One was his participation, as an investor only, in 2012’s Great Googa Mooga Food and Music Fest in Prospect Park. This was one that failed because it was too successful, drawing an overflow crowd that well exceeded the 40,000 expected. It was also hampered by a forward-thinking digital payment system that was a little too ahead of its time. Shapiro also talks about the incredible run and occasional SNAFUs that took place at The Jammy Awards, including the vastly understaffed 2001 edition.
Peter Shapiro at The Capitol Theatre
The tale of his efforts to get Brooklyn Bowl going are also pretty entertaining. When Shapiro sought the advice of veteran NYC promoter Ron Delsner on the concept, he said he thought it was insane to have a bowling alley next to a stage where the band played. On this, the old man was wrong as Shapiro would go on to create hugely successful off-shoots of The Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville, Las Vegas and Philadelphia.
One poignant chapter is the one dedicated to Easy Rider Live at Radio City, a film screening with live music to mark the 50th anniversary of the legendary film starring Peter Fonda. Artists like Steppenwolf’s John Kay and The Byrds’ Roger McGuinn were on hand to play their songs featured in the soundtrack live during the screening, with an all-star band corralled by T. Bone Burnette. Unfortunately, Fonda would pass the month before the September 2019 event. His final Instagram post was a picture of himself before the marquee announcing the show.
Naturally, Shapiro’s book is bursting at the seams with a lot of hard-earned wisdom about the music business.
In the early days of Wetlands, he noted the importance of the late great Village Voice in getting the word out about shows. The sell-out of the unsigned and unmanaged Vulfpeck at MSG in 2019 is credited to smart way the band built a huge following via social media, viral videos, a killer email database (a Shapiro go-to) and their efforts to keep ticket prices (and profits) reasonable. Shapiro is also the kind of guy who would fly for 20 hours to get facetime to pitch an idea to an artist like Bono, Robert Plant or Taylor Swift, but only if the vibe was right. He also tells us that sometimes cash is really king – that a wad of it can be (take over in) the inspiration needed to get a band like Umphrey’s McGee to do a second encore (that one cost $500.)
Peter Shapiro at Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas
Readers will get plenty of anecdotes about their favorite musicians and celebs. Shapiro recounts the night when Jimmy Fallon joined Joe Russo’s Almost Dead at the Capitol Theater for a rousing rendition of Neil Young’s “Fuckin’ Up” and how it was B.B. King who gave hippie icon Wavy Gravy his unforgettable handle. We hear about the night SNL’s Chevy Chase played piano at The Jammy Awards and another when he made Shapiro valet his car at the 2010 Climate Rally in D.C. There are anecdotes from Questlove’s memorable “Bowl Train” nights at Brooklyn Bowl, the site where SNL’s Maya Rudolph pioneered her popular Prince Tribute. Naturally, there’s lots of insight into the Dead and the many shows he promoted for Bob Weir’s Dead & Company and Phil Lesh & Friends. You also get an insight into their differences with Phil liking things “loud and fast” and Bob preferring his music “slow and quiet.”
The later chapters of Shapiro’s book deal with the onslaught of COVID and what it wrought on his and the concert business as a whole. While he was able receive PPP support for The Capitol Theater, LOCKN’ Fest and his media off-shoot Relix, there was none in the offing for The Brooklyn Bowls, due to a partnership venture with Live Nation.
Peter Shapiro at Lockn’ Festival
A lifeline during COVID came from longtime running buddy Trey Anastasio of Phish. The guitarist created a weekly series of concerts – The Beacon Jams – streamed from The Beacon Theater via Relix’s partnership with Twitch. The eight events attracted nearly 2 million viewers and some sorely needed capital. Shapiro’s Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville became the site of the novel “Be In the Stream” concerts carried on FANS.live featuring Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires. Viewers joined a Zoom session and could be selected to be projected on the walls at the venue at the end of songs, giving the virtual events a live audience feel and the performers some sorely needed applause. At The Capitol Theater, Shapiro greeted COVID and passersbys with a sign that said: “This is only a set break!”
It was one that would last for 18 months.
Post-COVID, Shapiro is back with the launch of Relix Studios in the home of the old Jazz Standard on NYC’s East Side, with the opening of Brooklyn Bowl Philly, a proposed concept for yet another club called Jazzlands and much more.
The 13 testimonials at the beginning of the book, from boldfaced names like Phil Lesh, Stevie Van Zandt, Don Was, Questlove and Trey Anastasio, demonstrate Shapiro’s importance to music makers and fans alike. More than one, call him “the Bill Graham of our generation.” The 330-plus pages in this book are evidence that more than supports the claim.
Amid a 20-date fall tour of North America that kicked off in early-October, Violent Femmes played City Winery’s intimate Main Stage on a rain-soaked evening on Thursday, October 13 in the West Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. The underground folk punk legends who formed in 1981 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin were gracing the City Winery stage yet again – for the fourth of five consecutive sell-outs.
Violent Femmes | Photo by Michael Dinger
As drenched concertgoers hustled into the venue’s main entrance along 11th Avenue to escape the downpour, there were several options to pass the time until showtime at 8:00 pm. Many participated in the free wine tasting featuring a Limited Edition Violent Femmes Cabernet Sauvignon – each of the five residency dates featured its own label artwork with band autographed bottles also available. Some patrons attended the art exhibit (“Live From the Cell Block: Will Livingston and His Silk Screen Machine”) taking place on the second level, a remarkable body of work featuring vintage-style concert posters Livingston created during his forty years in prison. While other fans who came for dinner and a show were seen seated at tables on either side of the standing floor orchestra section, or in the balcony section with a bird’s-eye view of the ‘action’ to unfold shortly.
City Winery Stage Backdrop | Photo by Michael DingerLimited Edition Wine Bottles | Photo by Michael Dinger
Preceded by Amy Ray (Indigo Girls) and Jeff Fielder who opened the October 9 and 10 shows, Alsarah and the Nubatones provided support for Violent Femmes on the October 11, 13 and 14 dates. Although their musical genre could not be any different from the post-punk headliner to follow, the East-African retro-pop group formed in Brooklyn in 2011 nonetheless quickly won the over the crowd. Performing on a stage bathed in soft violet and fuchsia light for more than 30 minutes, the five-piece ensemble enchanted the City Winery audience with Alsarah’s beautiful voice and soulful presence, accompanied by backing vocals from her sister Nahid. The dynamic fusion of sound was equally rounded out with pulsating basslines courtesy of Mawuena Kodjovi and warm timbre, low texture rhythms from Brandon Terzic playing an oud (an 11-string instrument similar to the lute).
Alsarah | Photo by Michael Dinger
During the stage turnover following Alsarah and the Nubatones’ set, I chatted with a lovely couple from Denmark who revealed to me that their entire vacation itinerary was planned around this specific concert, ever since it was originally announced in the early summer. With the cozy venue now quickly filling up in anticipation of Violent Femmes taking the stage, I surveyed the crowd surrounding me and noticed the age diversity of the attendees – many of whom were twentysomething – a testament to the everlasting legacy of the Femmes, and a point to which frontman and guitarist Gordon Gano would speak to in the closing moments of the night.
After a brief introduction of the band by City Winery’s emcee, Gano and his two bandmates – founding member Brian Ritchie (bass guitar) and John Sparrow (their drummer since 2016 who plays on a Weber charcoal kettle grill!) – appeared from stage left to loud applause from the nearly 400 fans in attendance. The trio was joined by longtime touring partner and multi-instrumentalist (including a 6-foot contrabass saxophone) Blaise Garza.
Gordon Gano | Photo by Michael DingerBrian Ritchie | Photo by Michael DingerJohn Sparrow | Photo by Michael DingerBlaise Garza | Photo by Michael Dinger
Over their nearly four decades together as a band, Violent Femmes have released ten studio albums, with their last being 2019’s Hotel Last Resort and for which they toured extensively. On this night of their residency stay, fans of the Femmes were indulged to a 21-song setlist, lasting for more than 90 minutes, that spanned their nearly four decade career. The most recent material played from their discography – which otherwise focused on the first twenty years of their career – was “Memory,” taken from their ninth studio album (We Can Do Anything, 2016).
However, if you came to this show hoping to witness live offerings from their stellar 1983 self-titled debut album, as I did, you were not disappointed. All the Femmes’ classics that made up their distinctive, early career sound were played, including “Good Feeling,” “Gone Daddy Gone,” “Blister in the Sun,” “Kiss Off” and “Add It Up.” Gano’s unmistakable, nasal-style voice, accompanied by Ritchie’s thumping bass lines (whether using his signature Ernie Ball acoustic or his MusicMan StingRay electric), was solidified with a solid percussion backbone provided by Sparrow (albeit via a minimalist approach using steel brushes on a non-traditional setup of drums). All of which afforded a superior listening experience in the state-of-the-art venue with custom-designed audio acoustics.
Brian Ritchie | Photo by Michael Dinger
In their new “home away from home,” the Femmes displayed an easy-going chemistry coupled with undeniable showmanship. The band were in top form, and so too were the audience, as many sang the chorus to any catchy lyrical pop nugget they recognized, while others chose to abandon their coveted dining table for any nearby space to dance in. The ‘stole-the-show” moment came when banjo ace and New York (Syracuse) native Tony Trischka made a special guest appearance on “Country Death Song” and “It’s Gonna Rain” – both from the Femmes’ sophomore studio album (Hallowed Ground, 1984) – the former of which Trischka performed the recorded version at the Secret Sound Studio at nearby West 24th Street.
Tony Trischka | Photo by Michael Dinger
The Violent Femmes’ tour culminates at The Eastern in Atlanta, Georgia on October 28. Tickets for remaining shows on the fall run are available here.
Violent Femmes | Photo by Michael Dinger
Violent Femmes Setlist: Prove My Love > Promise > Memory > Confessions > I’m Nothing > Life Is an Adventure > Country Death Song > It’s Gonna Rain > Breakin’ Up > Nightmares > Jesus Walking on the Water > Good Feeling > Dance, Motherfucker, Dance! > Gimme the Car > I Held Her In My Arms > Color Me Once > Gone Daddy Gone > Blister in the Sun > Kiss Off > Encore: In the Dark > Add It Up
