Cold War Kids play Webster Hall (12/1)
Cold War Kids played the second of two New York City shows at Webster Hall on December 1. In front of a sold out crowd of around 1400, the band played a 90 minute set featuring a mix of old favorites and new songs that will likely appear on their next album (whenever that will be).
The openers were particularly strong with the music of We Barbarians and eccentric poems of Derrick Brown both became crowd favorites after just mere seconds on stage. Brown was particularly entertaining and I must say the former paratrooper turned professional poet is quite talented. But in the end, it was the Cold War Kids who shined brightest.
The Long Beach California natives started off soft with their self-described lullaby “Pregnant” and a new tune entitled “Dreams Old Men”. It only took the opening chords of “We Used To Vacation” to ignite the crowd however, and from that point on, the energy didn’t at all cease. Particular highlights included the band’s performances of “God, Make Up Your Mind” and “Passing the Hat”.
But perhaps the night’s best moments were the bands back-to-back performances of “Don’t Let Your Love Grow Away (from me)” and “Hospital Beds”. The segue between the two songs exemplified the bands diversity and intensity. That’s not to say they weren’t energetic the whole show. In each of the three times I have seen them now, I always get a sense that they are truly enjoying themselves on stage. And when a band is truly passionate it always translates well to the crowd. This of course, was the case again tonight.
The band tried out a few new songs tonight. Besides the already mentioned “Dreams Old Men”, Cold War Kids introduced the crowd to the likes of “Red Wine”, “Audience of One”, “Valleys”, and the particularly solid “Something is not Right”. If these songs are an indication of where the future lies for this band, well…the next album is going to be very, very good.
The band closed out with an unbelievable performance of “Saint John” during which multiple “wows”could be heard coming from the crowd.
One gripe I had about the show. Though it doesn’t have to do with the band, it’s about the venue. Anyone who has ever seen a show at Webster Hall can vouch how the sound quality is an injustice for any band. So I’m used to that. But tonight was just another example of the idiotic 10:00pm deadline policy. If a band clearly wants to play longer, I don’t understand how a dance club should prevent them from doing it. But I guess in the end, it all comes down to money. Oh, and the smoke machine didn’t make picture taking easy. ‘Tis a shame.
Report Card:
The Setlist: A
The Crowd: B- (the radio hit fans were out in full force)
The Vocals: A
Instrumentation: A
The Venue: D-
Overall: A-
More photos:
Better photos (though from Night 1) can be found on the flickr page of Joy and Misery…
wholeheartedly agree with the rankings..that webster hall cut off is bullshit. this is ny ..and 10 is ridiculously early.. i had a lot of the radio hit kids around me, singing along to the favorites and chitty chatty during the lesser known cuts..
I’d agree with just about everything. I have come to expect that the crowd at most any show will automatically perk up for the radio hits, if only because they know it. I think the best new song they played was the one before Saint John. My only gripe, though I loved what they did play, was the one song I did want to hear above all others was left out. Tell me in the morning. That song is made to be played live.