Last night Hamilton Leithauser returned to New York for a headlining slot at Bowery Ballroom. The performance was the final one on the tour for his debut solo record Black Hours, and what better place to do it than New York City?
I had caught Leithauser twice in 2014, with the first being an elaborate record release show at Joe’s Pub with a full backing band, with the other coming at an opening spot with Death Cab for Cutie at The Capitol Theatre, featuring just Hamilton and fellow Walkmen member, guitarist Paul Maroon. For this show at Bowery, Leithauser’s band featured Maroon, along with Fleet Foxes’ Skyler Skjelset on bass, and Leithauser’s brother-in-law, Hugh McIntosh, on drums.
It was the first time I ever saw Leithauser perform in anything other than a suit, which certainly threw me off at first. There was plenty of material from Black Hours played, such as “Alexandra,” “Smallest Splinter,” and “11 O’Clock Friday Night.” But a good chunk of the night was dedicated to new songs, some of which were Hamilton’s solo efforts, but others came from both him and Paul Maroon. In fact, he shared that he and Paul were working on some new music together, sending Skyler and Hugh to the back as they ran through three brand new songs of theirs. They were beautiful nostalgic delights, reminiscent of You & Me era The Walkmen. Unfortunately the crowd was loud and obnoxious through the quieter songs that Hamilton + Paul shared, causing a noticeable distraction for both the rest of the crowd and Hamilton as well. He later went on to scold that crowd in the nicest way possible saying “thanks for being quiet,” before kicking into another new song.
Hamilton delivered a great performance, as usual, but the obnoxiously loud chatter from those entitled fans hanging near the back of the bar took away from it all. Hamilton returned to perform another new song during the encore, which was quite considerate of him to do. I wouldn’t have blamed him if he didn’t return, as the crowd didn’t deserve it. But thank god he did, as it was a total gem that has me excited to hear the final result of the most recent collaboration between the two. I’m not totally sure if it’s going to be billed as a new Hamilton record, or a joint record between the two, but it seems like it’s leaning towards the latter. Either way, the material was completely spellbinding, the sort of stuff that fans of The Walkmen will be cherishing in no time.
The show featured an opening set from singer Elle King, who had a sizable crowd of her own (as well as a video crew recording the show).
Below find a few videos I took of some of Hamilton + Paul’s new material, along with photos and the setlist.
Setlist:
Hamilton + Paul New Song #1 (what I’m dubbing “Annie’s Song”):
Hamilton + Paul New Song #2 (what I’m dubbing “One Soul”):
Hamilton + Paul New Song #3 (what I’m dubbing “Green Ocean”
Elle King:
Hamilton Leithauser:
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