I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: June 8, 2018] Parquet Courts

I saw Parquet Courts a year and a half ago at this very venue.  At the time I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see them again, but it had been a fun show.  Their new album was also fun, so why not?

They played 10 of the 13 new songs from Wide Awake.  But they also played a lot of older songs too (19 songs in total including a Ramones cover of “Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World.”

But they started with the lead song of the new album, “Total Football.”  The end of the song “and fuck Tom Brady” got a huge reaction from the crowd (since Philly beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl).

Although I do like the new album quite a bit, I was really psyched that they moved right into “Dust.”  I had already given up my spot in the center of the crowd, by the way, I know that Parquet Courts fans are pretty insane–looking for literally any chance to slam.  I told myself that I wanted to move to the right to be in front of Austin Brown since he was so far away last time I saw them.  But i tend to instinctually move left (you can see what the guitarists are playing better from the left side).  So I was in front of A. Savage again. and that was fine, he’s an interesting guy to be in front of.

Most of the action and chatter comes from bassist Sean Yeaton.  He’s fun to watch, sings great harmonies and wears interesting shirts (like the Venom shirt he was wearing this evening).  A. Savage comes off as a bit standoffish, but Yeaton is a lot of fun.  Like when he somehow managed to return a set of car keys to a guy who lost them in the mosh pit–that’s always nice to see.

Brown sings a few songs, like the delightful “Dear Ramona,” “One Man, No City” and the new “Mardi Gras Beads.” but most of the songs (especially he more slam dance worthy ones) )are sung by A. Savage. 

Although having said that, Savage busted out a tiny electronic thingy for the mellow new track “Before the Water Gets Too High.”

But mostly he’s all about the aggressive singing.  Like the dark angry (but really catchy) Normalization.

They also played a few older songs like Master of My Craft and Borrowed Time as well as the wonderful “Outside.”

But the most fun was during their new goofy, fun funky cowbell infused “Wide Awake.”  It was a huge party with Goat Girl and Street Stains coming out to chant and dance.

As the set drew to a close, they played a very long version of “One Man, No City.”   Austin took a lengthy 12 string guitar solo and the whole band jammed it (for a bit longer than necessary honestly).

But they came out of that song and absolutely ripped through “Light Up Gold II. “ Goat Girl came out and did some crowd surfing and the whole place exploded.  It was pretty great.

Checking the setlist, they played a very different set than last time.  And while there are certainly a number of songs I would have liked to hear again, overall there were great song choices.  And the new stuff sounded terrific.

Last time I was  able to get a picture of Max Savage on drums, but not really this time.  And their drum head didn’t seem to have anything on it this time either.

• * from Wide Awake
• [hp] from Human Performance
• [LuG] from Light Up Gold
• [sunan] from Sunbathing Animal
• ** from Content Nausea
• [tally] from Tally All the Things That You Broke