[ATTENDED: February 8, 2018] Weaves
I saw Weaves on a Tiny Desk concert and knew I had to see them live. Their songs are poppy and definitely a little weird.
I was particularly excited that their show was a double bill with Palehound–two bands who I like a bunch on the same bill. Normally I know that a double headline show like that means that both bands play fewer songs, but since both bands only have two albums each it’s not like they were each going to play for two hours anyhow.
Vocalist Jasmyn Burke sings in a fun and peculiar style–hitting interesting falsetto notes and growling and screaming. On their first album, the guitars (with a fast vibrato effect) often followed her vocal line in a kind of manic way.
Their second album has less of that but the songs are no less energetic and are still rather manic.
I loved when guitarist Morgan Waters came out to warm up. He played some great, unusual sounds (I guess his rig was plugged into a laptop?). I was really psyched for the rest of the show imagined what was in store.
Bassist Zach Bines had a flower on each of his tuning pegs, which was pretty funny. I knew that Waters played some pretty wild guitar, but I had no idea that Bines would match him on bass. I genuinely didn’t know who to watch–Burke’s theatrics, Water’s interesting playing or Bines’ cool bass stuff. Drummer Spencer Cole was pretty great too, with lots of off-kilter timings and beats. He only suffered in the photos by being behind everyone else.
The show opened somewhat quietly (relatively) with “#53” an incredibly catchy song that opens their new album and “Slicked,” the song that follows it. There’s some great guitar work and guitar and vocal interplay on this song.
Then they jumped to their first album with “Coo Coo” the first song I’d heard by them and one that hooked me with the amusing lyrics and great guitar riff. I loved the sounds he got out of his guitar on this song live. This was also the first song I noticed that Bines was doing all kinds of cool things on that bass.
Jasmyn joked about her leather pants. She said she bought them as a joke but then was like fuck it I’m wearing them. And I’m drinking wine tonight, too.
They played a really lengthy version of “Law + Panda.” On the record it’s kind of punk blast, but live they extended the end with Jasmyn wailing while the guys rocked out. She was pretty intense but always had a smile for people when she looked down at the crowd.
Interestingly, when I arrived, I had to go back downstairs to get something. As I was heading down, Jasmyn came in. I thought it was her (she was bundled up though, so I wasn’t sure) and as I walked past her she said to the ID checker–I’m playing tonight. My brush with rock greatness.
They had a great romp through the amusing “La La.” Zack sang backing vocals on this song (and many others) and Jasmyn pointed out that Zack finally had a mic. They followed it with the really catchy “Walkaway.” Why isn’t this a hit?
It was around this time that Waters broke a string (not surprising) he had a second guitar for a couple of other songs, but I was impressed at how un-hindered he was when he brought that guitar back and played one or two songs with that broken string swing around.
They played one song I didn’t know–their first “singe” “Hulahoop” which was a chance for the band to really stretch out–for Waters and Burke to feed off of each other with her ecstatic moans and his wild playing. The song feels like a pretty wild improv, but there’s a lot of structure beneath it.
Jasmyn told us that they had some “Shithole” pins for sale I was surprised she didn’t make any comments about trump, it seemed ripe for the mocking. But she refrained. They wound up playing a blistering, all out punk version of “Shithole,” as song that slower on the album. It was intense.
They followed it up with “Motherfucker.” On record, it’s about a minute long–more of an intro to the next song, but they had fun rocking it out. Jasmyn stood right in front of me (right on the edge of the stage and swung her arm–if I leaned in I could have been smacked in the head. On the album it leads into “Scream” as it did here was well. On the album, “Scream” features a guest vocal by Inuit performer Tanya Tagaq. And while I would have loved to see Tagaq I had no illusions that she’d be there. But I love the song and was really excited to hear it live. I love the guitar line the sentiment of the lyrics: “get up on the table and scream your name.”
They ended the main set with “One More,” another terrific song with a great lurching quality. For a band that started out so calmly, they certainly took off by the end.
The setlist called for the final song to be “20shinz” which I guess is “Two Oceans.” The drummer counted it in and she confessed she didn’t remember the words. So they launched into a blistering punk rendition of “My Generation.” Zack even took a verse.
And with that, they were done. About 50 minutes of tremendous rocking fun. I would see them again any time.
On my way out they were hanging out by the merch table. I already had the disc so there was nothing for me to get but I enjoyed talking with them briefly. Waters said that that was the first time they played “Shithole” like that. So a first for me!
Setlist
- #53
- Slicked
- Coo Coo
- Law + Panda
- La La
- Walkaway
- Hulahoop
- Shithole
- Motherfucker
- Scream
- One More
- My Generation
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