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Eleanor Friedberger “New View” Poster
Eleanor Friedberger Setlist
Midnight Reruns Setlist
Tour Dates
2/27/16 Omaha, NE @ Reverb
2/28/16 Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge 3/1/16 Salt Lake City, UT @ State Room 3/2/16 Boise, ID @ Neurolux 3/4/16 Vancouver, BC @ The Cobalt 3/5/16 Seattle, WA @ Barboza 3/6/16 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge 3/8/16 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent 3/10/16 Los Angeles, CA @ Satellite 3/11/16 San Diego, CA @ Hideout 3/12/16 Phoenix, AZ @ VIVA PHX Festival 3/15/16-3/18/16 Austin, TX @ SXSW 2016 3/20/16 Louisville, KY @ Haymarket 4/14/16 Washington, D.C. @ U Street Music Hall 4/15/16 Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle 4/16/16 Nashville, TN @ 12th & Porter 4/19/16 Athens, GA @ Georgia Theater 4/20/16 Oxford, MS @ Proud Larry's 4/21/16 New Orleans, LA @ The Parish 4/22/16 Houston, TX @ Raven Tower 4/23/16 Austin, TX @ Sidewinder 4/25/16 Dallas, TX @ Three Links 4/26/16 Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck 4/28/16 St. Louis, MO @ Duck Room 4/30/16 Indianapolis, IN @ Hi Fi 5/1/16 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop 5/3/16 Ithaca, NY @ The Haunt 5/4/16 Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Showcase 5/5/16 Portland, ME @ One Longfellow Square 5/6/16 Boston, MA @ Middle East - Upstairs 5/7/16 Providence, RI @ Columbus Theater Read More
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Eleanor Friedberger just played at the Turf Club in St Paul last night (February 26), as part of her “New View” Spring Tour.
Opening up the show was Wisconsin’s Midnight Reruns with a 35-min set consisting mostly of their Tommy Stinson-produced record Force of Nurture and ending with some older tracks, like “T.V.Z”, from their debut self-titled album. We previously caught the band when they opened up for their idol at the Turf Club (12 Sep 2015).
As soon as the band took the stage, a dedicated fanbase moved closer to front to show their support for the band. Maybe they have jokingly called their sound “Dad Rock”, but whatever it is (it sounds a little garagey/Strokes-like), it went over well with the audience. Even their new song, which doesn’t have a title yet, was received well.
Apparently, their Friday gig would be their last with drummer Sam Reitman, who went out with this quote, “It's been real, it's been fun. Just hasn't been real fun!”
New York’s Icewater was up next. The band was pulling double-duty as opener, but also as Friedberger’s backing band. This wasn’t a new arrangement, as we’ve already seen members from Icewater and Cassandra Jenkins played as opener and then again as a full band for Friedberger when she played Triple Rock Social Club (08 Jun 2013).
According to Friedberger later, apparently their tour van (which racked over 230k in miles) broke down traveling to St Paul from Chicago. As a result, they missed their appearance at popular The Current 89.3 local radio station. They also missed their soundcheck, so, unfortunately, we had to endure a live soundcheck just prior to Icewater’s scheduled appearance.
Personally speaking, if you didn’t know their situation, you definitely thought their setup was taking way to long, spilling nearly 15 mins past their set time (and ultimately pushing Friedberger’s set past 20 minutes after the announced “10:45pm” time). Even after starting to play their first song, a massive feedback stopped the song... and the band paused, and re-started playing the song again.
When they hit their stride, they actually sounded really good. Many of their songs sounded very melodic... and interestingly enough, they had two singers (who would trade lead vocals on alternating songs).
By the time Eleanor Friedberger started her set, she definitely didn’t like how her vocals were sounding against the keys (her vocals were undermixed). Again, as previously mentioned, the band didn’t have a proper soundcheck, so they were still working out the kinks. After two false starts, Friedberger profusely apologized, “Thank you for being patient.”
Eventually the sound problems went away, and, as always, Friedberger looked and sounded fantastic. In typical Friedberger fashion, each song is a mini-novel, telling ordinary (and extraordinary) everyday stories.
As you can see from her setlist, she basically played her brand new album New View (Frenchkiss Records) from start to finish. While this is a great way for you to experience the new record (and giving backing band Icwater a nice pass since they co-wrote and knew intimately how to play the new album), unfortunately that didn’t leave much room for fans of her previous records such as Personal Record.
The other advantage to playing only the new songs was that, perhaps as a concept album, it tells the stories as it was always meant to be heard. In fact, many of the songs shifts and medley into the next song without any breaks. The best use of this is for the slower songs to transition into faster songs and guitars would pave the way for piano/key-lead songs.
Midway into the set, Friedberger recalled her last appearance in St Paul and asked if anyone was also there (yes, we were there). She laughed at the fact that legendary musician/author Patti Smith thought Friedberger sounded like My Bloody Valentine... to which Friedberger lovingly joked that perhaps it is what happens when you’re either “crazy, old, or deaf”.
For the encore, the seamless transition worked incredibly well for “A Long Walk”, which started with a solo Friedberger and her acoustic guitar. The quiet song got a massive punch-in-the-face sound with the full band, as it reached its final stanza.
In following with the album track listing, the final song of the show was “Stare at the Sun”, telling us that this wasn’t “goodbye”, but that “I'll be seeing you soon”... Of course, we can’t wait to see the “My Bloody Valentine-sounding” Eleanor Friedberger again soon.
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Midnight Reruns |
As soon as the band took the stage, a dedicated fanbase moved closer to front to show their support for the band. Maybe they have jokingly called their sound “Dad Rock”, but whatever it is (it sounds a little garagey/Strokes-like), it went over well with the audience. Even their new song, which doesn’t have a title yet, was received well.
Apparently, their Friday gig would be their last with drummer Sam Reitman, who went out with this quote, “It's been real, it's been fun. Just hasn't been real fun!”
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Icewater |
According to Friedberger later, apparently their tour van (which racked over 230k in miles) broke down traveling to St Paul from Chicago. As a result, they missed their appearance at popular The Current 89.3 local radio station. They also missed their soundcheck, so, unfortunately, we had to endure a live soundcheck just prior to Icewater’s scheduled appearance.
Personally speaking, if you didn’t know their situation, you definitely thought their setup was taking way to long, spilling nearly 15 mins past their set time (and ultimately pushing Friedberger’s set past 20 minutes after the announced “10:45pm” time). Even after starting to play their first song, a massive feedback stopped the song... and the band paused, and re-started playing the song again.
When they hit their stride, they actually sounded really good. Many of their songs sounded very melodic... and interestingly enough, they had two singers (who would trade lead vocals on alternating songs).
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Eleanor Friedberger |
Eventually the sound problems went away, and, as always, Friedberger looked and sounded fantastic. In typical Friedberger fashion, each song is a mini-novel, telling ordinary (and extraordinary) everyday stories.
|
Eleanor Friedberger Setlist |
The other advantage to playing only the new songs was that, perhaps as a concept album, it tells the stories as it was always meant to be heard. In fact, many of the songs shifts and medley into the next song without any breaks. The best use of this is for the slower songs to transition into faster songs and guitars would pave the way for piano/key-lead songs.
Midway into the set, Friedberger recalled her last appearance in St Paul and asked if anyone was also there (yes, we were there). She laughed at the fact that legendary musician/author Patti Smith thought Friedberger sounded like My Bloody Valentine... to which Friedberger lovingly joked that perhaps it is what happens when you’re either “crazy, old, or deaf”.
For the encore, the seamless transition worked incredibly well for “A Long Walk”, which started with a solo Friedberger and her acoustic guitar. The quiet song got a massive punch-in-the-face sound with the full band, as it reached its final stanza.
In following with the album track listing, the final song of the show was “Stare at the Sun”, telling us that this wasn’t “goodbye”, but that “I'll be seeing you soon”... Of course, we can’t wait to see the “My Bloody Valentine-sounding” Eleanor Friedberger again soon.
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Eleanor Friedberger at Turf Club, St Paul (26 Feb 2016) |
