The New Pornographers were in town this past Thursday and Friday and I had tickets to the Friday show. Having been sick all week I popped an Airborne (which says on the box was created by a school teacher so I guess it has to work) and headed over. Being a big fan, a slightly onerous cold wasn't going to keep me from seeing this band. The only other time I have seen them was this past summer and Neko Case and Dan Bejar were noticeably absent. Not this time though, the entire crew was there, time to check out some porn!
I didn't write down a set list during the show but just know that they pretty much covered everything that people wanted to hear from their four albums. They're great to see live.....I like any band that can incorporate hand-claps into such a high majority of their songs.
(Sorry for the distraction, but as I'm typing this the Bears are down by four against the Eagles and are about to attempt to drive 97 yards with 1:53 left and no timeouts. Who's confident?! Yeah, me neither. But I figure watching the Bears attempt a two-minute drill has to be comical enough to detail....
As figured, they're going nowhere......a dump pass in the middle of the field to Adrian Peterson is not going to get the job done with no timeouts. Another completed pass to Desmond Clark and he gets out of bounds to stop the clock....too bad it was only for about 8 yards. Whoa, hold up......they're moving......Griese over the middle to Berrian....we're near the Eagles 40........another pass to Hester......we're at the Eagles 15!
Unbelievable! After spiking the ball, Griese just hit Moose for what better be the game winning touchdown with 8 seconds left. Bears squib kick and the Eagles have it on their own 40. I wonder if McNabb can throw 60 yards. Oh, doesn't matter, they run out the clock after an incomplete pass that was set to go about 12 yards. Good call. Bears win! Honestly, was there ever any doubt?
My God, the Philly fans exiting the stadium look like they're ready to eat their own young right now. Yikes!)
....alright, sorry about that, but that was very necessary. It was good to see Dan Bejar with the band. I really like what he offers to the New Pornographers' catalog. Early on they played "The Spirit of Giving", closing track on Challengers and one which features Bejar and he sounded great. As did the song....it was memorable this past summer at Union Park and it was memorable again Friday night. They played about three or four other Bejar songs, "Jackie Dressed in Cobras" comes to mind, but the rest of the show he just sort of sat by the side of the stage, seemingly bored, sipping on a beer. For all I knew he was doing Sudoku puzzles during his downtime. In other words, he didn't exactly seem thrilled to be there. Or maybe that's just his normal demeanor.
Neko Case was donning an old Queen tour shirt which reminded me of this summer when they belted out "We Will Rock You". Both her and Kathryn Calder's vocals sounded fine and they often sung simultaneously. If anything surprised me, it was the fact that I didn't think Case offered any extra element to the band from what I saw this summer (unless you count her token nonsensical babbling into the microphone between songs). And I love Neko Case but that's how much I think of Calder and how good she is for the band. As mentioned, they pretty much covered every song that would be considered a hit in their catalog complete with "Use It", "The Laws Have Changed", "Sing Me Spanish Techno, and the title-track from Challengers. They closed out the first set with "Bleeding Heart Show" and returned for a three song encore that included "From Blown Speakers", a song from Mass Romantic that I can't seem to place and another song I don't remember. Hey, it was Friday night, beer was flowing.
Nevertheless, the New Pornographers are just a well-oiled machine that pump out really good pop/rock songs. That's probably mostly Carl Newman's influence but his supporting cast is pretty great and it was nice to see all of them there. Oh, and Go Bears.
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