When voting for melophobe’s top 10 Albums of 2008, if I had known the staying power of the Walkmen’s You and Me, I would’ve voted it number one (suck it, Fleet Foxes!). The lush, loungy tracks like “On the Water” and “Red Moon” combined with the passionate, pummeling stand-out song “In the New Year” make You and Me a lasting favorite.
Based on the sold-out Middle East crowd’s reaction to the Walkmen’s performance, however, most fans don’t share my sentiment. Using the gleefully inebriated guy standing in front of me as a barometer, the audience wanted to rock out, “the Rat” style; intimate, wistful performances are too boring for a Saturday night. Reactive yawns and restless leg shakes accompanied the first half of the set, heavy with You and Me tracks.
But the boys did not disappoint their ready-to-rock fans, blasting through the end of their set with “All Hands and the Cook,” “The Rat,” and “In the New Year,” each performed and received with increasing fervor. As the audience belted out “My sisters are married to all my friends!” I realized the effect of listening to Hamilton Leithauser’s passionate growl for an hour: the most banal of lyrics have great meaning when shouted in unison.
Despite my love of You and Me, even I was slightly restless during the show. Down to Leithauser’s black leather jacket and lovely horns during “Red Room“ and “Louisiana,” it felt exactly like the Walkmen’s show a year earlier at the same venue. Thankfully, the band tried out a couple new tracks (one Leithauser described as “75% finished”), promising both a return to the more raw garage sound of earlier albums and more languid, pensive, You and Me-esque pieces.
Preceding the Walkmen was Here We Go Magic, fresh off a tour opening for Grizzly Bear. Remarkably, the drummer, struck with pneumonia, was replaced by “Chad,” who according to the band stayed up until 4am learning the songs. For a band whose sound is crafted around quirky and complex rhythmic patterns, the sudden replacement was impressive. The previously described restless crowd struggled to focus on the opening set, but fell strikingly quiet for the haunting, hypnotic “Only Pieces,” which opens their self-titled album. Pounding tracks like “Tunnelvision” likewise received attentive head nods. I love the sound of Here We Go Magic's debut, written and recorded by Luke Temple, and after hearing this strong set, I’m eager to hear what recent recording sessions and a new label (Secretly Canadian) bring for the band.
