I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: March 11, 2019] Pinegrove

Back in 2017, I saw Pinegrove at the hot, sweaty First Unitarian Church.  The buzz around them had hit fever pitch and the crowd was insane.  In fact the whole night was a crazy sweatbox.  I couldn’t see very much so I was excited to get tickets for two more shows near the end of 2017.  Then their scandal broke and they cancelled their shows.

They have come back out of hiding for a few shows around the neighborhood.  I couldn’t get tickets to their very first shows.  Then came this trio of shows in Asbury Park.  I had actually somehow scored a ticket to Saturday night’s initial only show before realizing that we were going to Aurora that night.  I didn’t see that they’d added a show on Sunday until it was sold out.  But when they added a Monday show, I was there and managed to get a ticket.

Conventional wisdom says that the final show is always the best one.  I’m not sure if that’s true since former Pinegrove vocalist and full time Half Waif vocalist Nandi Rose Plunkett joined them on stage for a song on the first night.  But newly shorn Evan Stephens Hall (he went from shoulder length to buzzcut) promised that since it was the last night of their tour, they would be loose but still tight.  And that seems pretty apt.

This crowd was pretty intense (lots of people knew all the words) but they were not as intense as the First Unitarian Church where everyone screamed the words to every song (perhaps the low ceiling there made it seem even more insane).  At the Church they only played 16 songs (before we all passed out from the heat). Tonight they played 21. 

Cardinal has 8 songs Skylight has 11.  They almost played both complete albums (leaving out “Paterson + Leo” from Skylight and “Waveform” from Cardinal).  And they threw in a couple older songs.  Apparently “&” (which Nandi sang on Saturday) is one of those rare songs that was cool to hear.

So there was ample duplication (which I wanted because I love the older songs) as well as a bunch of new ones.  They played nine songs that weren’t played last time.

The ones that they didn’t play this time were primarily older songs which I know but not was well, so it was all right by me (the one song that I would have liked to hear was “Paterson + Leo” but everything else was great, so no complaints).

I love that they started with “Cadmium” one of the great songs from Cardinal.  There’s so many great lines in that song.  As there are in “Problems.”

After those opening songs, they jumped to the new album, including playing the song they released just before the hiatus, the wonderful “Intrepid.”

I was sure that I would arrive late because of when I left, but I wound up arriving at a good time and manged to get pretty close to the stage.  I was a little far to the right but the sound was still excellent.

And the band sounded great.  Evan’s voice was right on–hitting those unusual grace notes that he does so well and dong some surprisingly nimble guitar solos from time to time.  Guitarist Sam Skinner was on the far side of the stage from me.  I don’t know how much he did, but I loved having (at times) three guitars on stage.

Evan introduced their bassist, but I missed her name [Megan Benavente].  She kept a constant rhythm–it’s interesting how much the bass grounds most Pinegrove songs and how essential she was.

Zack Levine on drums was really impressive–pounding the hell out of the drums during the more dramatic moments.

They didn’t play too many songs from their earliest releases, but they did play a wonderful “The Metronome.”

When an album like Cardinal comes out, where all of the songs are great, it’s easy to forget how much you like songs that the band hasn’t played yet.  So I was super excited when they started “Size of the Moon” which I love

And I hope they never stop playing “Angelina.”  I doubt they will since it is on just about every release they have put out (including the new album).  But it’s a minute and a half of a total rocking fun and I think we all love hearing it.

I was in front of guitarist/pedal steel player Nick Levine.  He added some interesting sounds to these songs.  Pinegrove is no stranger to pedal steel, but he was adding it to songs that don’t normally have it, and it was a cool addition.  And yet somehow I couldn’t get a clear picture of him. But you can hear it on this wonderful version of “Old Friends.”

The woman in front of me was so giddy when they played “Aphasia,” a song I happen to really like as well.  And then they ended the set with “Visiting.”

Hall was super friendly and in very good form the whole night.  He joked with us and with the band, telling stories about the songs and giving a shout out to living in New Jersey.  He talked about his allergies and of course he mentioned Lincoln the sloth, the band’s now official mascot.  Linc came out mid way through the show and helped Zack Levine play drums.

After “Visiting,” Hall informed us that it was the last song of the set.  Cue shock and boos.  He then revealed that they would now start the encore (they didn’t even bother leaving) and that they’d be playing four songs.

They ended the night with two new songs and two songs from Cardinal.  Evan dedicated the final song to anyone who came to the show by themselves (which was me), describing when he went to a club by himself as a teenager and deciding maybe he needed some “New Friends.”

Despite playing 21 songs, the show felt short.  I honestly didn’t know how late they’d play (I put money on the meter until 1–all of $1.50, thank you Asbury Park for your fair fares), but figured they’d probably be done by 11.  They ended a few minutes before 11 (it was the last night of three sold out shows, they could have easily thrown in 3 or 4 more of their really short songs–curfew be damned).  But no real complaints.

The show was great fun–the crowd was cool, the band sounded great and it was an excellent Monday night.

So glad I got to see them again.

 

First Unitarian Church 2017	House of Independents 2019
Old Friends *	Cadmium *
Aphasia *	Problems ϖ
Visiting *	Rings §
Over My Shoulder ⊕	Portal §
V ±	Intrepid §
Waveform *	The Metronome ⊕
Angelina §	Size of the Moon *
Easy Enough §	V ±
Cadmium *	Thanksgiving §
Size of the Moon *	Easy Enough §
Paterson + Leo §	Amulets §
Problems ϖ	Light On §
Need 2 ϖ	Angelina §
The Metronome ⊕	& ±
Recycling ⊕	Old Friends *
New Friends *	Aphasia *
	Visiting *
	Darkness §
	Skylight §
	Then Again *
	New Friends *

⊕ Meridian (2012).
± & EP (2013).
ϖ Mixtape Two (2014).
* Cardinal (2016).
§ Skylight (2018).