The last time I caught the band play was at Governors Ball 2012. They haven’t released anything new since that time, which means that this tour was really up for grabs in terms of what material would be played. The band had a lot of fun with the shows, throwing in a bunch of covers in between their own songs.
The covers included The Byrds “Eight Miles High” (which I coincidentally last heard covered at MHOW earlier this year), Dinosaur Jr.’s “Sludgefeast”, and Blue Öyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.” The rest of the set consisted of a run through of fan favorites such as “Goin’ Against Your Mind”, “The Plan”, “Convential Widsom” and “Carry The Zero.”
The encore saw them embark on a fun cover of Tom Tom Club’s “Genius Of Love”, featuring some help on vocals from Erin Fein of Psychic Twin and Peter Speer. Towards the end of the cover the band invited fans on stage with them, and it ended up being a free-for-all up there, with fans literally taking over instruments and singing into the microphone. Some band members were more into this than others, with guitarist Brett Netson having a mild alteration with a fan who I can only guess got too touchy/close. It was pretty much (somewhat) controlled chaos.
It was an odd end to the night, but it showed that the band were having a bit of fun on this tour, as they weren’t sludging away promoting an album. The show had a little bit for everyone, and they played just about everything you could have wanted to hear. The epic one-two punch of “Goin’ Against Your Mind” and “Carry The Zero” was almost too good to be true; proof that guitar music is very much alive and well.
Setlist:
1. Revolution
2. The Plan
3. Stab
4. Conventional Wisdom
5. Kicked It in the Sun
6. Mess With Time
7. Liar
8. Eight Miles High (The Byrds cover)
9. Reasons
10. Planting Seeds
11. Sludgefeast (Dinosaur Jr. cover)
12. Goin’ Against Your Mind
13. Carry the Zero
Encore:
14. (Don’t Fear) The Reaper (Blue Öyster Cult cover)
15. Big Dipper
16. Genius of Love (Tom Tom Club cover feat. Erin Fein & Peter Speer)
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