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Matt Pond PA: Emblems 10th Anniversary Tour
Poster
Setlist
Tour Dates
May 16 Marquis Theatre Denver, CO
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May 17 Urban Lounge Salt Lake City, UT May 19 Mississippi Studios Portland, OR May 20 The Tractor Tavern Seattle, WA May 22 Bottom of the Hill San Francisco, CA May 23 Roxy Theatre Los Angeles, CA May 24 Soda Bar San Diego, CA May 25 The Crescent Ballroom Phoenix, AZ May 27 Red 7 Austin, TX May 29 Mercy Lounge Nashville, TN
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The Turf Club in St. Paul, MN was a hot scene for indie rocker Matt Pond and band to perform his seminal album, Emblems. Literally.
“Why is it 90 degrees in here? Who said turn the heat up?”, Pond would remark during his first trip playing the eastern side of The Twin Cities during a 73 min. appearance that more than pleased the Pond-faithful, and converted new fans to his unique blend of orchestral indie-pop.
The New York-based Philadelphian finally dropped the “PA” from his band’s name last year and is on the road for a month-long tour, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the album, Emblems (on Altitude Records), which launched him firmly into the indie-pop mainstream. The album, his fifth, was written shortly after re-locating to New York and the band is celebrating by not only playing the album in its entirety, but has even added the “PA” back, just for this tour.
After a set by locals The Farewell Circuit playing cuts from last year’s We Were Wolves, Ohio-based The Lighthouse and the Whaler took the stage, opening as they did on Pond’s previous outing, with a feel-good blend of indie folk-pop, in support of their self-released latest, This is an Adventure.
Led by Singer Michael LoPresti , the collective released its first EP in 2008 and followed that with a full-length the next year. Their 45 min. set started with the title track and continued with songs similarly akin to their name, which alludes to a Moby Dick-inspired theme. Newer songs like ‘Little Vessels’ and single, ‘Venice’ mixed well with older tracks, like the anthemic ‘Whoa Whoa’, for an enjoyably buoyant opening set.
“St. Paul, Minnesota, if I’ve got it correct, this is our first time playing… we’ve been playing that city across the way, Minneapolis,… have you heard of it?...we’re going to play an album if you don’t mind”, was how Matt Pond somewhat nervously started his set, before launching into Emblems in its entirety. Pond and his backing band, including longtime guitarist and literal right-hand man Chris Hansen (who stood just behind Pond to his right for the whole set), were all still somewhat getting used to each other, the new drummer having entered the picture less than two weeks ago.
The set started strong though, with a slightly sped-up version of album opener, ‘KC’ and its beginning line, “I remember you, do you remember me”, which set the mood for everyone to reminisce on the impact of the ten-year old album.
‘Closest (Look Out)’ was a higher tempo danceable song and the first of the evening to bring the cello to the forefront, compliments of Shawn “Stickers” Alpay; nicknamed by the rest of the band, though Pond was unsure the moniker would…uh, stick. The heartfelt melancholy of ‘Bring on the Ending’ seemed to connect with the audience as Pond, who had already sweated through his shirt, sang the song with eyes closed as Alpay’s cello seemingly cried along with him.
“Was that ok for you?” bass/keys player Tierney Tough asked after the album’s first half was completed, to yelps and applause from the Monday night audience. ‘New Hampshire’ was gorgeous in its orchestral scope, while ‘’Grave’s Disease’ got heads bobbing and people moving in place with a lyric that is familiar to all Minnesotans, “the winter froze all of your things and you went inside”. After finishing the album with the slower ‘Close (KC Two)’, Pond and band closed the main set with ‘Halloween’ from album Several Arrows Later, to end things on an upbeat note.
The three song encore included ‘Love to Get Used’ from his newest release, The Lives Inside the Lines in Your Hand (BMG Records) and the chugging rhythm of ‘Starting’ from 2010’s The Dark Leaves, before ending with ‘Some Debris’, also from 2005’s Several Arrows Later.
Pond and band have been busy of late; getting a track on a recent Wes Anderson tribute album, working on another new full-length (via a successful Pledge Music campaign) and releasing a work-in-progress, pay-what-you-want collection called Skeletons and Friends via Noisetrade.
The ten-year anniversary of Emblems was a perfect excuse for the band to get out of the studio for a while, to bring beloved music both old and new, to a loyal fan base and then go back with fresher perspective, to try and capture that lightning in a bottle, as they finish work on the new album.
Ironic that the venue’s A/C system kicked on right as the band finished, Matt Pond’s future still seems “hot” and worth following as to where he will take things next.
“Why is it 90 degrees in here? Who said turn the heat up?”, Pond would remark during his first trip playing the eastern side of The Twin Cities during a 73 min. appearance that more than pleased the Pond-faithful, and converted new fans to his unique blend of orchestral indie-pop.
The New York-based Philadelphian finally dropped the “PA” from his band’s name last year and is on the road for a month-long tour, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the album, Emblems (on Altitude Records), which launched him firmly into the indie-pop mainstream. The album, his fifth, was written shortly after re-locating to New York and the band is celebrating by not only playing the album in its entirety, but has even added the “PA” back, just for this tour.
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The Lighthouse and the Whaler
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Led by Singer Michael LoPresti , the collective released its first EP in 2008 and followed that with a full-length the next year. Their 45 min. set started with the title track and continued with songs similarly akin to their name, which alludes to a Moby Dick-inspired theme. Newer songs like ‘Little Vessels’ and single, ‘Venice’ mixed well with older tracks, like the anthemic ‘Whoa Whoa’, for an enjoyably buoyant opening set.
“St. Paul, Minnesota, if I’ve got it correct, this is our first time playing… we’ve been playing that city across the way, Minneapolis,… have you heard of it?...we’re going to play an album if you don’t mind”, was how Matt Pond somewhat nervously started his set, before launching into Emblems in its entirety. Pond and his backing band, including longtime guitarist and literal right-hand man Chris Hansen (who stood just behind Pond to his right for the whole set), were all still somewhat getting used to each other, the new drummer having entered the picture less than two weeks ago.
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Photo of Setlist
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‘Closest (Look Out)’ was a higher tempo danceable song and the first of the evening to bring the cello to the forefront, compliments of Shawn “Stickers” Alpay; nicknamed by the rest of the band, though Pond was unsure the moniker would…uh, stick. The heartfelt melancholy of ‘Bring on the Ending’ seemed to connect with the audience as Pond, who had already sweated through his shirt, sang the song with eyes closed as Alpay’s cello seemingly cried along with him.
“Was that ok for you?” bass/keys player Tierney Tough asked after the album’s first half was completed, to yelps and applause from the Monday night audience. ‘New Hampshire’ was gorgeous in its orchestral scope, while ‘’Grave’s Disease’ got heads bobbing and people moving in place with a lyric that is familiar to all Minnesotans, “the winter froze all of your things and you went inside”. After finishing the album with the slower ‘Close (KC Two)’, Pond and band closed the main set with ‘Halloween’ from album Several Arrows Later, to end things on an upbeat note.
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Matt Pond
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Pond and band have been busy of late; getting a track on a recent Wes Anderson tribute album, working on another new full-length (via a successful Pledge Music campaign) and releasing a work-in-progress, pay-what-you-want collection called Skeletons and Friends via Noisetrade.
The ten-year anniversary of Emblems was a perfect excuse for the band to get out of the studio for a while, to bring beloved music both old and new, to a loyal fan base and then go back with fresher perspective, to try and capture that lightning in a bottle, as they finish work on the new album.
Ironic that the venue’s A/C system kicked on right as the band finished, Matt Pond’s future still seems “hot” and worth following as to where he will take things next.
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Matt Pond at the Turf Club, St Paul (12 May 2014) |
