Let me begin with, to say that I really love The Walkmen is an understatement. My first introduction the band and their music was sometime in 2002 or 2003 and I was in my first Chicago apartment and about to graduate at SAIC. My roommate at the time had this new fangled CD burner and a stack of burned CDs and Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone was one off those cds but only had the words “The Walkmen” written on it. So fast forward 20 years and six albums later their music still resonates in a similar fashion. I’ll preface that this review comes from a biased perspective but think sometimes when celebrating a reunion that’s just fine. Appropriately named the Revenge tour, The Walkmen rolled into town for a mini four night residency at Metro just a day before their Brooklyn buddies, The National (a few members unhand for the evening’s performance) posted their own stakes across town for a four night residency themselves to kick off their tour.
This evening’s show felt very much as a welcome back for the band regaining the groove in their seats musically but also a grateful reminder for the die hard fans playing some of the notable tracks throughout their career but also the songs the “true” Walkmen fans have appreciated and attached to personal experiences correlating with the time frame of their respective albums. For me personally, Ive never been good to pin point previous eras/genres of music that reflect the band’s inspiration of their music but am reminded of a modern day style of Jazz music collaging a variety of sounds and styles but approaching it still in a traditional back-to-basics fashion. With a weathered and aged look to them the quintet still sounded as seamless as the last time I saw them play live ten years ago. Most of the band members continued to play their own personal work/projects while others focused on a well deserved family life but clearly still kept themselves in musical shape similarly to the handful of days per week I make sure to workout. For me personally so much changed coming out of the pandemic except for an appreciation for the friendships I had built and stay connected with occasionally where we update each other on our lives over coffee. Hamilton Leithauser referenced throughout the evening’s set a practice space in Brooklyn where so many of the band’s songs were imagined and fleshed out into what we now know as some of our favorites. I imagine a similar reconnection for these guys over coffee or drinks reminiscing those “back in day” memories and coming up with this tour celebrating the twenty year mark as a band. The evening’s performance left me feeling nostalgic through these musical memories of bonding times this group of friends had created for themselves journaling the fun memories, loves as well as hard times that us listeners could always connect and relate to.
For the most part there is no real flashiness from these where they mostly allow their music to speak for them and can easily retreat in their own world and instrument even though they’re onstage in front of a sold out crowd. Leithauser I would say is a slightly different story, as leader singer he’s the voice and seemingly the one who normally speaks for the otherwise quiet bunch. He carries a swagger similar to a Bret Easton Ellis character, especially the Patrick Bateman- esque expressions on his face before he begins to howl the songs’ chorus. There were milder times in the set where Leithauser would sway along as he strummed his guitar as if he were a gunslinger in a Marty Robins song. All in all a true showman who also complimented the rest of the band in the contrasting fashion he performs. The evening’s set con concluded with the personally sentimental favorites as if we were guided down the memory lane of songs all the way back to the beginning and the first songs they wrote together and inspired them to be a band. It was a beautiful night, for me and all the other sad dads who were able to get out for the night and relive their old selves as well.
Setlist:
What’s in it for Me
On the Water
In the New Year
The Rat
No Christmas While I'm Talking
Little House of Savages
138th Street
New Years Eve
Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone
Blue as Your Blood
Four Provinces
Donde Esta la Playa
Angela Surf City
Another One Goes By (Mazarin cover)
Canadian Girl
Juveniles
All Hands and the Cook
Heaven
Encore:
Thinking of a Dream I Had
Wake Up
We’ve Been Had
