Old Friends Get Together for a Joyful Saturday Night at Music Hall of Williamsburg
Ovlov, Grass Is Green, Speedy Ortiz – Music Hall of Williamsburg – January 18, 2025
Live long enough in New York City and any visit to through Williamsburg becomes a walk down memory lane. On Saturday at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Speedy Ortiz singer Sadie Dupuis asked, “Do you guys want a historical statement?” while running through the history what led to this moment, explaining the context in which these bands lived and what came before them.
The rundown included mentions of meeting Ovlov through a passed-along MySpace link, and shout-outs to all the defunct DIY venues dotting this history. The true importance of all these places was, of course, the friends made along the way. At one of them, Dupuis met and bonded with Devin McKnight (currently of Grass Is Green, formerly of Speedy Ortiz, longtime bestie).
“There was this very nice guy, Dan, who came to all our shows and was like, ‘What if my blog was a label?’” recalled Dupuis. That label, Exploding in Sound Records, went on to put out Speedy Ortiz’s Sports EP, and Ovlov’s debut LP, Am, was the label’s eighth release. “We all go very, very far back. We all love each other deeply. This is much more meaningful to us than any amount-of-years high school reunion,” added Dupuis. “Someone said, ‘This is the happiest I’ve ever seen you all onstage,’ and I had to be like, ‘We’re always happy but, yes, you’re right.’”
Joy was abundant on Saturday and friends were everywhere, on the stairs and on the stage listening to one another’s sets, past bandmates, labelmates, Dan Goldin of Exploding in Sound Records, El Kempner of Palehound. “We’re an incestuous scene, but not in a weird way,” offered Dupuis. The recently reunited Grass Is Green are a lot of these bands’ favorite band. “It’s such a special thing for Grass Is Green to reunite,” she continued.
“You’re Yawning All Over My Baby” featured a hard-hitting, thudding and shapeshifting bass, and drums smacking in tandem with squelching guitars twisting in their wake. For all the dynamic shifts, the group’s tightness is especially impressive considering they only recently began playing together again. Speedy Ortiz packed twisting riffs of their own, Dupuis showcasing serious talent trading off fast-but-hard-to-sing verses with hard-to-play guitar riffs, breaking into some jams of joy alongside equally talented bandmates Audrey Zee Whitesides on bass and Andy Molholt on guitar.
“I am too drunk. This is so surreal. I’ve seen so many shows here,” said singer Steve Hartlett, excitedly waving to the crowd, after Ovlov took the stage. Later, the frontman clasped his hands in a “victory pump.” He’s a man of many gestures. Ovlov pack such a heavy punching torrent of guitar sound and hooky melodies into their songs that they leave you longing for more like a sugar-heavy treat. “Land of Steve-O” and Ovlov classic “The Great Crocodile” specifically rocked in a gone-too-soon kind of way. Dupuis joined for a few songs, including “Chicken Coop.”
“Do we have one more minute or one more song? Oh, phew, I thought we only had one more minute,” said Hartlett, getting clarity before playing the final number, fully ready to rip the finale in just a minute. Over the course of the night, each band played a 45-minute set, normally not enough time for any one of them but enough to allow for an egalitarian celebration of all. There isn’t much else to say when seeing them all get their due other than: It’s about time. —Dan Rickershauser | @D4nRicks
Photos courtesy of Anthony Grant | @gallerybytm
