The Japandroids Live @ The Bowery Ballroom - June 27th 2012
The Japandoids played a sold out show at the Bowery Ballroom last night, fresh off of rave reviews from basically everyone on their new record, Celebration Rock. The crowd was completely enthralled, and the band's energy was great. The set consisted of songs from both Celebration Rock, and Post Nothing. Both seemed to be equally loved, and revered by the audience. Nothing fell flat.
King & Prowse have their stage show down at this point, which they have been perfecting since they started touring endlessly for Post Nothing. King comes across earnest, and humble, while Prowse seems generally happy to hang in the background. At one point, King goaded Prowse into joining him in an impromptu rendition of Paranoid. King teasing Prowse with the tidbit of a riff like this has become a staple of their rapport...it would have been interesting to see Prowse take him up on it this time.
My two favorites of the night were "The Night of Wine and Roses" from Celebration Rock, and the Prowse sung, "Rockers East Vancouver" from Post Nothing. In Japandroids tradition, they closed their set with a cover. Last night they finished with "For the love of Ivy" by the Gun Club, which they also released on Celebration Rock. Personally, I would have preferred "Racer X", from Big Black, or "To Hell With Good Intentions" by McLusky, but the live version of "For the Love of Ivy" was still a solid closer.
The growing success of the band hasn't impacted the show much...although the addition of an actual mosh pit, does signal a growing/changing audience. They're tighter than ever, and apart from a longer set, it was Japandroids as usual. Which of course, is always a great show.