[ATTENDED: February 25, 2017] Japandroids
I saw Japandroids in February of last year. It was a wild show in which two guys made a ton of noise and sounded great doing it. The crowd was huge, there was much slam dancing and crowd surfing. It was intense and exhausting.
So I was pretty excited to see that they’d be playing Boot & Saddle for two nights in a row. I can remember standing outside on a cold day trying to refresh my page while the wifi tried to connect to something, anything. But I was sold out. And then they announced a third show, just as I refreshed my email. I was able to score a ticket for that third night. They later announced a fourth night.
I assumed it would be really packed so I got there plenty early,
I was right up front and, in a club this size, there’s no slam dancing or crowd surfing (just lots of yelling).
As with most Boot & Saddle shows, it felt like this show was just for me and the girls in front of me. Just like at Union Transfer, Brian King stood with his guitar on my left and David Prowse was behind the kit (facing King) on my right.
I didn’t realize that the band was still touring their last album, Near To The Wild Heart Of Life. This wasn’t a new showcase or anything. They told us that they had opened this tour in Philly at Union Transfer (I didn’t know that) and they wanted to finish it up here as well. (Although they did add an extra night to their tour when they played Asbury park when they opened for Hold Steady.
Like last time, they opened with the roaring title track. And how much fun is it when a whole room screams that hey are “fired up.”
The setlist was surprisingly similar for all four nights, with the different songs being one old song and two brand new ones. Japandroids have 3 albums out (and a B-sides collection). They played 4 of 8 songs from their new album and 5 from the previous album and 4 of 8 from their debut. This surprises me given that it’s just the two of them and they don;t have to worry about stage effects or lights or anything.
In fact the lights were giving them a hard time on our night. The lights went out for a second. They got stuck on red for a bunch of songs (Brian: can you please change the lights to anything but red) I also happened to get this weird lighting effect on camera.
But Japandroids are all about fun and they came to have fun, to sweat and to stretch out their songs to pretty lengthy jams. And, heck it was great hearing those songs up close. “Fire’s Highway” and “Heart Sweats” sounded fantastic and it was great watching King play these surprisingly complex chords.
It was also fun having Prowse so close–watching him lean back between songs to stretch out.
Prowse pounds the drums. At one point his snare drum even fell over–someone in front of me righted it–that would have been a cool stage story, if I had been closer.
During one of the pauses, Prowse was chatting with the audience. The guy who replaced the snare seemed to have been at the previous two shows and they started talking about Vancouver.
King sings most of the songs, but Prowse does get lead on a couple, like Rockers East Vancouver and of course he does all of the backing vocals like on North East South West.
The whole show was great–an excellent, if brief set list and the five last songs were stellar: No Known Drink or Drug, Young Hearts Spark Fire, Continuous Thunder (one of my favorites) and the supremely crowd pleasing The Nights of Wine and Roses.
I was really happy to be able to get so close for these songs (again, seeing King play thsese cool chords), because for the last song (which they announced as the last song–11PM curfew and all).
Especially since for the final song, a football team’s worth of very tall guys pushed their way to the front to slam dance and pogo everyone around them.
I wound up surprisingly far back for the last song. It was even more surprising when the lights went out for about a minute of the song (the sound stayed on though). I think this led to a bit rougher slam dancing, so I was glad to be out of it.
This was all fine, except that after the show, their roadie handed out drumsticks to the meatheads who forced their way up front for the end.
Regardless of where you stand and what or how any songs Japandroids play, they put on a hell of a set. It is fun, it is sweaty and it demands that you scream.
I’m glad I saw them in a bigger venue, but this was a great, intimate performance.
| Boot and Saddle (Night 3 of 4) July 26, 2018 |
Union Transfer February 25, 2017 |
| Near to the Wild Heart of Life * |
Near to the Wild Heart of Life * |
| International [new song] |
Adrenaline Nightshift ! |
| Fire’s Highway ! |
Fire’s Highway ! |
| Heart Sweats ∅ |
True Love and a Free Life of Free Will * |
| True Love and a Free Life of Free Will * |
North East South West * |
| Rockers East Vancouver ∅ |
Younger Us ! |
| Younger Us ! |
In a Body Like a Grave * |
| Alice [new song] |
Wet Hair ∅ |
| North East South West * |
Arc of Bar * |
| Wet Hair ∅ |
The Nights of Wine and Roses ! |
| No Known Drink or Drug * |
Evil’s Sway ! |
| Young Hearts Spark Fire ∅ |
Midnight to Morning * |
| Continuous Thunder ! |
Continuous Thunder ! |
| The Nights of Wine and Roses ! |
No Known Drink or Drug * |
| The House That Heaven Built ! |
Heart Sweats ∅ |
|
Young Hearts Spark Fire ∅ |
|
The House That Heaven Built ! |
|
(I’m) Stranded (The Saints cover) (with Craig Finn) |
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- * = Near To The Wild Heart Of Life (2017)
- ! = Celebration Rock (2012)
- ∅ = Post-Nothing (2009)
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SHAD’s 2010 album TSOL is one of my favorite rap albums. Of all of the rappers that come around to Philly to tour, SHAD is the one I’m most interested in seeing.
I Just Read About That... 