On March 8 Nada Surf brought their tour celebrating the 15th anniversary of their beloved album Let Go to Brooklyn Steel. While a 15th anniversary isn’t the normal benchmark to celebrate, I wasn’t one to complain about seeing Nada Surf play this album in full as it was the album that found me and got me into them as a teenager and this was quite the first way to catch them live.
There was no opening band to delay the inevitable, this was a night with Nada Surf and began with Let Go played from start to finish in order. It was a real treat to get to hear all of these songs played in such an enthusiastic manner and to hear singer Matthew Caws tell stories about the origin of some of these songs, many of which were written here. There was a special feeling throughout the room from the getgo and it held out throughout the entirety of their nearly two-hour performance.
As if a 12-song set of arguably the bands strongest work wasn’t enough, they returned with not just a few more songs, but a full second set that featured 16-songs from throughout their career, including a bit of a cover of Joy Divisions’ “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” That still wasn’t enough for them as a three-song encore of “Popular,” “Always Love,” and “Blankest Year” send the crowd home happy after a damn epic 31-song performance that was truly a crowdpleaser in every which way.
Find photos from their performance posted below, along with the setlist.
Nada Surf Setlist:
[Set 1: Let Go]
1. Blizzard of ’77
2. Happy Kid
3. Inside of Love
4. Fruit Fly
5. Blonde on Blonde
6. Hi-Speed Soul
7. Killian’s Red
8. The Way You Wear Your Head
9. Neither Heaven Nor Space
10. Là pour ça
11. Treading Water
12. Paper Boats
[Set 2]
13. Imaginary Friends
14. Teenage Dreams
15. What Is Your Secret?
16. Cold To See Clear
17. No Snow on the Mountain
18. Out of the Dark
19. Your Legs Grow
20. Dispossession
21. Do It Again
22. No Quick Fix
23. Firecracker
24. Robot
25. Stalemate / Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division Cover)
26. The Fox
27. Amateur
28. See These Bones
Encore:
29. Popular
30. Always Love
31. Blankest Year
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