11.05.2007

Show Review: The New Pornographers

11/04/07 Liberty Hall, Lawrence

Carl Newman sure can write a near perfect pop song. In fact, over the course on The New Pornographers four albums, he has written a crap-load of them. All of The New Pornographers albums are power-pop masterpieces, including this years slow-burner Challengers. Their live shows aren't really moving affairs but they are a lot of fun. I've been lucky to see Neko Case with them all three times I've seen them play, so the really exciting thing about last night's performance was the appearance of Dan Bejar. Dan Bejar is the man behind Destroyer and Swan Lake (alongside Wolf Parade's Spencer Krug) and he also writes and sings a few songs on all The New Pornographers albums. Bejar also rarely tour with the band so it was a real treat to have him play with them last night. Bejar would wander on stage to sing his songs and most of the time would wonder right back off after the song was over. The band was the tightest I've ever seen them with the songs off their first album, Mass Romantic making the biggest splashes. Their fanbase has been steadily growing for a while now and they could be the next "indie" band to make it huge.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i saw them the week before in nyc and the wandering dude usually had a different kind of import/micro beer in hand each time he came out to sing a song. pretty amusing. i cared for the older songs. they seemed more put together.