“You guys are the perfect Wednesday night crowd,” The Morning Benders lead singer Chris Chu told the packed house at Mercury Lounge, “do you know what that means?”
“You just have this great, positive energy,” he continued. “It’s not Saturday night energy, but that’s good. If it were Saturday night energy, people would be like, ‘Why is that guy raging so hard in the middle of the week?’ Instead it’s just this awesome, focused passion. It’s great.”
He was absolutely right about the Mercury crowd – a week after seeing a show ruined by a lackluster crowd at the same venue, I was ecstatic to be surrounded by such passionate and attentive audience members. That awesome passion didn’t stop in the crowd though; The Morning Benders embodied focused exuberance on stage.
Before The Morning Benders took the stage, the audience was treated to a tight set by up-and-comers Twin Sister. With a sort of Beach House meets The Antlers sound, Twin Sister played a cohesive set marked by stellar songs “I Want A House” and “All Around And Away We Go.” This group is on the precipice of something great, and all it will take is a solid leap to launch them into a headlining slot. Stay tuned.
After Twin Sister, The Morning Benders were up. “We made an album this year called Big Echo,” Chu said as an introduction after the first song of the set. “We’re going to play it for you tonight.”
The band did exactly that, twisting up the order of the songs and mixing in a couple non-Big Echo tunes. After playing rarity “Go Grab A Stranger,” the Benders thanked the crowd, saying “that was fun to play.” Introducing “Damnit Anna” – from their debut album Talking Through Tin Cans – Chu said they were going to play “the Big Echo version of an old song.”
The best moments in the set were, predictably, songs from Big Echo. The album is one of my favorites of the year, and if the applause at Mercury Lounge is any indication, I’m not the only one who feels that way. Songs like “Promises,” “Stitches,” and “Pleasure Sighs” spiked the set, putting Chu and company’s charisma on display as they danced around and vibed with each other.
A personal highlight was “Cold War (Nice Clean Fight),” a song that seems almost half finished in its studio incantation. In concert the band put it on rails, turning it into a dance song for the beach crowd. If they sped this song up and made it a minute longer, it would be platinum pop.
The unmistakable zenith of the evening was The Morning Benders’ rendition of “Excuses” that closed out the set. With one microphone in hand and the other wired to a looping pedal, Chu alternated between stage and crowd, leading a poly-voiced sing-along of audience members and Benders alike. The song went on for what seemed like forever, a blissful eternity of beautiful creation; the band closed the night by putting down their instruments in favor of dials and slowly guiding the din down to a reverent quiet.
As I waited for the train home, I could hear strains of “Excuses” emanating from the earbuds of a fellow platform stander, as if the sing-along had never really ended. It was that kind of show – a Wednesday night that the audience will take home with them.
