I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: June 5, 2019] Ages and Ages 

A few years ago Ages & Ages’ “Divisonary (Do the Right Thing)” was one of my favorite songs of the year.  They’ve been on my list of bands to see, but I missed them back in 2017.

So I was pretty excited that they were coming back around and that they had a (fantastic) new album to tour.

We had some miscommunication at my house about the plans for the evening, so I wound up missing the opening act entirely.  But I was able to see all of Ages & Ages.  The turnout was quite sparse (a Wednesday night) maybe 35 people?   I personally love an uncrowded show, especially when the people in the audience are big fans–which several of them were.  There was an older woman who was whooping and singing along the whole night.  And a drunken younger woman who slapped me in the arm and said “these guys are good!”  (She was just there to get drunk apparently).

The six members of Ages &Ages came out and were super friendly, thanking us for coming out on a Wednesday night.

Ages and Ages has always been the work of singer/guitarist Tim Perry and bassist Rob Oberdorfer.

They seem to have had a kind of revolving door as far as other musicians goes.  Although there has been some stability as of late, with drummer Evan Railton, keyboardist Dustin Dyvbig and guitarist Nate Munski playing on the previous album, too.  For this tour, they were accompanied by Ashley Schanely on keys, every percussion instrument imaginable, and vocals.

They played about 11 songs in about 50 minutes.  I was a little bummed that it took longer for me to drive to the show than it did for them to play.   However, the set was great and the brevity allowed me to get home at a reasonable hour!

They started the set with a couple of new songs and I was hooked from the starts.  Their harmonies sounded amazing live and some of the tracks sounded even better than on record.

The opening two songs were just fantastic.  “Way Back In” has harmonies galore and “Needle and Thread” is so freaking catchy you almost don’t notice the curse right in the middle of the chorus.

But the band was not there simply to play new songs.  They played quite a lot from their breakthrough Divisonary album.  This included a great “Light Goes Out” and “I See More,” with its great sixties era riff and stellar harmonies.

But I was really taken with the new songs.  I loved the catchiness of “Nothing Serious” and the very cool backwards guitar work from Munski on “How It Feels.”

They only played one song from their previous album, Something to Ruin, but it was the excellent “Cascadia Waving Back”  which they introduced with some great drumming and a wild guitar sound.  They also played one song from their first album, called “No Nostalgia.”

I would have been quite bummed if they didn’t play “Do the Right Thing.”  But they did and so I was not bummed at all. I somehow imagined it getting all rousing and them extending the wonderful closing chorus part for five minutes as we all sang and clapped along,  That didn’t happen, but it was still a great version of the song and the harmonies were, of course, spectacular.

I came away from the show liking them more than I did before and being really glad that I drove down to see them on that Wednesday night.

This setlist is from a show a few nights before, but I’m assuming it’s the same or similar.

• Way Back In ⊗
• Needle and Thread ⊗
• Light Goes Out ÷
• No Pressure ÷
• Nothing Serious ⊗
• How It Feels ⊗
• Just My Luck ⊗
• Kick Me Out §
• Cascadia Waving Back §
• Hiding Out ⊗
• Weight Below ÷
• I See More ÷
• No Nostalgia ∇
• Divisionary ÷

∇ Alright You Restless (2011)
÷ Divisonary (2014)
§ Something to Ruin (2016)
⊗ Me You They We (2019)