Concert: New Pornographers
I saw them again at the Showbox, one of my favorite venues, now that it (like everywhere else) is non-smoking. Everyone was there - Carl Newman, Neko Case, Danny Behar, and all five-ish others that make up this indie-rock supergroup.
Once again, they blistered through a set of catchy, high-energy rock, the kind where it's mandatory to stand up and bounce through the whole thing, and sing at the top of your lungs if that's your bag. What I love about seeing this band is the sense of community, the sense that you're seeing a group of extremely talented friends who are collaborating on even terms.
They pretty much play the songs note for note with the records, but they are so tight, and the music translates so well to a live setting. This isn't the kind of stuff you'd want to jam on... that would defeat the point.
The difference between this performance and the last one was the presence of a new album (which I hadn't yet heard) of material. That material is decidedly lower-key with respect to their three fairly similar albums of great, happy, up-tempo rock. That said, other than one song, I really got into the new material, which is a testament to its inventiveness and accessibility.
Neko and Carl weren't singing quite as well this time. I've seen Neko 4 times in various forms (5 if you count two-and-a-half songs before getting hailed out at Sasquatch), and this was her worst. Having started to see bands multiple times, I'm finding out that singers definitely have their on-days and off-days.
I've since bought the album, of course. Stay tuned...