Sunset Rubdown Live at the Sonar

It's been an interesting and travel-laden week for me, and I won't bore you with all the details, but since Wednesday, I've driven to Baltimore, flown to Kansas City through Detroit and then back to Baltimore through Chicago, arriving from beautiful weather in the midwest to miserable, near-winter wet weather conditions on the east coast, all to see Sunset Rubdown live.  Well, not entirely, but due to a work conference that I couldn't miss (but did cut out early from, and got in trouble for), I missed SR in Manhattan Friday night, so I re-arranged my schedule to leave and return from Baltimore (a 5-hour round trip drive from my house) in order to catch the band's appearance at the Sonar on Saturday.  Was it worth it?  Absolutely.

As usual, the band was stunningly great.  This was their first time at the venue (and presumably in Baltimore, although that was less clear) and while the crowd of mostly young fans didn't know all their music as well as someone like me, they were very energetic, receptive, and into the show that Sunset Rubdown put on.  And it was a wonderful show.  I saw them in Philly earlier this summer playing a very similar set, and while I wish they would have varied their tracks a little more from the first leg of their tour, I really can't complain about any of the song choices, and some were surprisingly brilliant.  The big opener, which they apparently played in Manhattan the night before, was a combined version of "Empty Threats of Little Lord" melding into "Idiot Heart," which is just a great way to start a show.  By the time Spencer belted out "so move around" in the second song, I'd already belted down several Magic Hat #9s (great selection of beers at the Sonar, by the way), and after traveling since noon to see a show that didn't start until 10:30, that was the kind of release I needed, and along with the rest of the crowd, it was time to "move around" and celebrate Spencer's brand of brilliance. 

Spencer ventured to the edge of breakdown with his sonic screams on several songs, but was composed and funny during his in-between banter, while Camilla was polite and appreciative as she spoke to the crowd, apologizing for a cold that left her voice a little raw and left her constantly asking the sound man to raise the volume of her mike.  It never quite worked -- she wasn't the powerful counter voice to Spencer's mad genius rants as she usually is in concert -- but that was really the only negative about the entire show, and not one you can fault her with.  Spencer himself complained about losing his voice before the final song, presumably due to the power of his voice throughout, but he managed to get through, and hopefully he'll be recovered for tonight's show in Ohio.  This is their final stretch of dates before a much-needed break for the band, so I'm sure the relentless touring in support of Dragonslayer is taking its toll, but honestly, you could barely tell.  They were as wonderful as always, and into every song like it was the first time they played.

Speaking of Dragonslayer, they did end up playing five songs from their latest album, including my three favorites from the album, each of which is a strong contender for my favorite song of 2009.  First came "Silver Moons" and after it, I thought "Ok, yeah, absolutely the song of the year."  Then "You Go Ahead" came a couple tracks later, and I thought, "Wow, that's right there too."  And then they closed their initial set with the final track from the album, the soaring masterpiece "Dragon's Lair" and that was perhaps the highlight of the entire night -- just such ebbs and flows and energetic rhythmic explosions -- that I think that might actually be song of the year.  Just wonderful.  Other highlights from the show, which was chock full of highlights, were the surprise appearance of "Trumpet Trumpet Toot! Toot!" and the performance of my favorite SR song of all-time, "The Mending of the Gown."  The crowd cheered nonstop for a good minute or two -- very, very loudly -- before the band returned for its encore, and as I think has been a habit, they played a scorching version of "The Taming of the Hands" followed by the mellow brilliance of "Us Ones in Between" that left me nearly numb as I stumbled out into the rainy streets of Baltimore and tried to find my way home.  Just a great, perfect show.

The opening act was a band named New Villager, consistently of a singer/guitarist from New York and a guitarist/keyboardist from San Francisco.  They were pretty good, through six or seven songs, and they actually played a couple standout tracks, the names of which I've unfortunately forgotten in the aftermath of the Sunset Rubdown brilliance.  The track list for the SR set is as follows:

1. The Empty Threats of Little Lord
2. Idiot Heart
3. Black Swan
4. Trumpet, Trumpet, Toot!, Toot!
5. Silver Moons
6. Coming to at Dawn
7. You Go On Ahead
8. Winged/Wicked Things
9. The Mending of the Gown
10. Dragon's Lair
11. (encore) The Taming of the Hands
12. Us Ones in Between

Interview with Camilla for the Washington DC version of the AV Club, which appeared Friday.

• Download Sunset Rubdown - "Dragon's Lair (live in Montreal 2008)".mp3

• Download Sunset Rubdown - "Silver Moons (live in Boston 2008)".mp3

• Download Sunset Rubdown - "The Taming of the Hands That Came Back to Life (live in Boston 2007)".mp3

• Download Sunset Rubdown - "I'll Believe in Anything You'll Believe in Anything".mp3

• • "Rare" original version of Wolf Parade's "I'll Believe in Anything" from Spencer's solo first album Snake's Got a Leg

Comments

[Adrian]

They played The Men Are Called Horsemen There here at the Grand Ballroom man. It was fucking magical. Too bad you couldn't make it, but I definitely laud you going to Baltimore to catch them. I'd do the same.

[Bill]

Wow. I don't think I've heard them play Horsemen live. Sorry I missed it. But a great show nonetheless.