A.C. Newman @ Johnny Brenda's, March 17, 2009

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A.C. Newman @ Johnny Brenda's, March 17, 2009

POSTED: Wednesday, March 18, 2009, 6:36 PM

Filed Under: Music | Show Last Night

youmustbeloaded.com

Carl Newman, the affable frontman of The New Pornographers (and the dearly departed Zumpano and Superconductor, and who our own Michael Pelusi profiled in City Paper this week) took the stage last night at Johnny Brenda's as A.C. Newman, the monicker he gives his "solo" projects. Of course, there was nothing solo about the performance. Newman's natural tendency is ever bigger; he was flanked by a bassist/vocalist, a violinist/vocalist, a second guitarist/keyboardist, a harmonium/trumpet/keyboardist and a drummer, none other than Philly Boy Roy, er, Jon Wurster, while performing a batch of songs from his new Get Guilty and 2004's The Slow Wonder.

After opening with "There are Maybe Ten or Twelve" and "Miracle Drug," the respective openers off his respective releases, Newman paused to marvel at the intimacy of the venue. He likened it to the the Peach Pit (which brought assorted murmurs from the crowd about how the TV venue he was really referring to was the Peach Pit After Dark). He apologized for being a "mooch" then asked if someone could be so kind as to get him a beer, assuring that he was good for it and would get us back "next time we hang."

Newman's between-song banter bordered on stand-up comedy. He plugged his "new web site" youmustbeloaded.com on which he proposed estimating the wealth of his rock biz connections as a way of triangulating how loaded he should be by comparison. His claim that he's more loaded than George Thorogood, based on the fact that the New Pornographers outdrew George in Ithaca, was chided by the crowd. He explained that since he has red hair, it's often assumed he's Irish, but that he's actually Scandinavian, then teased' that the reason' Irish and Scots have red hair is that his ancestors invaded, plundered, had their way with the Irish and Scottish women, then returned to Scandinavia. "So there's that," he smiled.

Through a set that included the new "Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer," "The Palace at 4 a.m." and "Submarines of Stockholm" and old favs "Drink to me Babe, Then" (complete with actual whistling), "Secretarial" and "On the Table" (thanks to Jesse Delaney for the setlist, below), Newman roared and soared, coaxing a huge-but-not-overbearing sound from his assembled sextet. At one point Newman paused to admire the club's rather ingenious practice of projecting silhouettes of the band on the stage backdrop, exclaiming, "It's like looking into the eye of God!" At the first crowd-called request ' "The Town Halo" of course ' Newman asked if they could' skip the pretense of an encore and just play all the songs they'd planned: "What are we going to do, go back in that room for a minute and come out? It's an insult to both of us."

The band concluded with "Come Crash" and "The Town Halo,"sending the crowd home happy and quite sated.

Rough Setlist, provided by Jesse Delaney:

There Are Maybe Ten or Twelve
Miracle Drug
Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer
Prophets
Elemental
The Heartbreak Rides
Submarines of Stockholm
???The Palace at 4 AM???/???Thunderbolts????/???Secretarial??? (all were played at some point during the night)
All of My Days and All of My Days Off
Drink to Me, Babe, Then
The Changeling (Get Guilty)
On the Table

'Encore'
Come Crash
Town Halo

ross

Posted 2009-03-18 22:25:05

Not to be pedantic, but...  You're missing "The Cloud Prayer," which was totally lovely, and also "Young Atlantis."  If they played "Elemental" or "Thunderbolts" it kind of evades my memory, which isn't surprising as they are kind of forgettable.  I grabbed the setlist for my friend Jenny, so she can confirm the order, but there were 17 songs listed, including the mysterious scrapped cover ("War"?)



Anyway, lovely show, though I must say all the blue lighting was a poor match for the redheads on stage.  Cheers too to openers The Broken West, who played a very enjoyable set of classic-style indie rock highlighted by a slightly countryfied Tegan and Sara cover.

Brian Howard

Posted 2009-03-19 17:40:29

@Ross: If you get the setlist info, please post it. 



Hadn't really thought about the blue lighting; i was so transfixed by the actual images they were projecting that the color combo didn't cross my mind.

Posted by Brian Howard @ 6:36 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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