[ATTENDED: March 12, 2018] We Were Promised Jetpacks
I didn’t really know all that much about We Were Promised Jetpacks’ music, but I knew I wanted to see them live. I had enjoyed what I’d heard but I knew there were diehard fans in the audience.
But WWPJ were also working on a new album–finishing it up by the end of the month, they said. So there would be new songs which meant most people wouldn’t know all the songs. This was their second night at Boot & Saddle and the final night of their tour.
WWPJ are from Glasgow. And of course, I enjoyed hearing Adam Thompson’s accent when he spoke. They played with one of the darkest stage lighting I think I’ve ever seen. And since they were all wearing black, it was like a black hole up there. Which worked well with their moody, often loud sound.
I was in a slightly bad location (up front) for them because it seemed like I couldn’t hear the vocals very clearly and that Michael Palmer on guitar was a little too quiet.
Sean Smith’s bass was a wee too loud in the beginning but that got EQ’d properly. Darren Lackie’s drums were just perfect all night. He used those drums like a lead instrument much of the time and that was awesome.
The band played a lot of new songs (eight, apparently). But they mixed in songs from two of their previous albums. Interestingly, they didn’t play anything from their previous album, 2014’s Unravelling.
It was cool watching Palmer’s guitar work, but the show was all about Thomspon as he prowled the tiny stage (at the previous show at the Bowery Ballroom, Palmer took off his guitar at the end of the show and slammed it at his amps–nothing quiet as intense was done this night, but I did enjoy the end of the show when Thompson just dropped the guitar and walked off (right past me).
The show started with the new song “The More I Sleep” which had some quiet moments and then some really intense ones.
But they jumped right into an older song with “Human Error.” And the crowd was right there with them, singing along to the big choruses. Thompson has a real intensity about him when he sings–almost staring down the audience between verses. (And yet when I met him after the show, he was super nice and recognized me as a front row person).
It segued into “Circles and Squares” which had its own slow moments. There was a cool bass on “Someone Else’s Problems.” Palmer also played a pretty melody. on what I believe was the new song “Hanging In.”
Throughout the show I was really enjoying Darren Lackie’s drums. Like the mallets on the floor toms in “This Is My House, This Is My Home” and the crashing in “Keeping Warm.”
The crowd grew more and more intense as the night progressed. They shouted along to “Keeping Warm” and “Boy in the Backseat.” The new songs were warmly received (and were all really good), but the final three songs were just huge.
The intensity of “Thunder and Lightning” and “Short Bursts” was palpable–The audience was almost as loud as the band singing along. Thompson sang without the microphone for a while, and those cymbals!
The final song is an intense show-stopper. “Repeating Patterns” is new, but they have been playing it for a while and it is hugely intense. Thompson sings in his regular voice and falsetto and it just builds and builds.
Those last three songs were just amazing. The crowd cheered them on for one more song even after they’d left the stage. But the Boot &Saddle ha a pretty strict curfew so that was it. But the band hung around chatting with fans afterwards, which was pretty cool.
The More I Sleep [More]- Human Error [Pit]
- Circles and Squares [Pit]
- Someone Else’s Problem [More]
- Hanging In [More]
- This Is My House, This Is My Home [T4W]
- When I Know More [More]
- Keeping Warm [T4W]
- Boy in the Backseat [Pit]
- Adult 2
- Impossible [More]
- It’s Thunder and It’s Lightning [T4W]
- Short Bursts [T4W]
- Repeating Patterns [More]
[More] = The More I Sleep, The Less I Dream (2018)
[Pit]= In the Pit of the Stomach (2011)
[T4W]= These Four Walls (2010)
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