|
The Joy Formidable at Turf Club
Joy Formidable Setlist
Tancred Setlist
Read More
|
London-based, Welsh band The Joy Formidable (guitarist/vocalist Rhiannon "Ritzy" Bryan, bassist Rhydian Dafydd, and drummer Matthew James Thomas) sold out the Turf Club in St Paul on Friday, November 2nd.
Tancred (aka Jess Abbott) opened the show. We’ve been writing about Abbott since her days in Now, Now Every Children (later shortened to just Now, Now), but left the band in late 2013. Her first national tour, she said she travelled by herself in Oct 2014, but admitted that it was too awkward playing music by herself. By March 2016, we got to see her with a full band: bassist Terrence Vitali and drummer Kevin Medina. It’s that same lineup that we see Tancred at the Turf Club on Friday night.
Before “Underwear” (taken from her latest album Nightstand), Abbott mentioned that she used to live in Minneapolis, “It’s still cold here. There’s still good food and polite people.”
Near the end of their 40-min set, as they were tuning their guitars for the finale song “Pretty Girls”, Abbot mentioned how her black turtleneck made her look like Steve Jobs. Then Vitali interrupted about how he overheard her saying how she was sweating through her turtleneck.
“Why would you say that?!?” Abbot clarified that she was just nervous (sweating) about playing, but admitted that it sounded pretty funny hearing “sweating through my turtleneck”. She closed out the banter with her Steve Jobs joke: “Did you hear about the iPhone 69? It still sucks.”
Tancred’s Nightstand is out now on Polyvinyl.
As previously mentioned, The Joy Formidable was one of the first bands we covered a decade ago. The Wales/London band were brand new at the time in July 2008, but we wrote that “a band that I see a lot of potential in.” Our prediction came true, and over the years, we’ve seen the band on and off, whenever they came to town.
In April 2016, while on tour for Hitch, they played their biggest stage in Minneapolis - the 1,500-capacity First Avenue. We’ve only seen the band at smaller “club” gigs prior, so it felt like everyone was on their best behavior: “the First Avenue performance was more of a proper rock show, with bigger stage, full light rigs, and the band seemingly very focused.”
After a two year-absent, the band returned to the Twin Cities, headlining and selling out the Turf Club in St Paul on Friday night. It was nice to see the band at a small “pub gig” again. Bassist Rhydian Dafydd and singer “Ritzy” seemed really loose and making faces as they launched into “This Ladder Is Ours”. Even the drummer would occasionally rise from his seat to whip the audience into a deserving frenzy. Seeing the band this animated vs their button-down-proper gig in 2016, was a much better experience.
Even though St Paul was not their first show in this 2018 tour, it sure felt fresh and fun, as if they were just starting out. Maybe it’s also because it felt like the band really loved playing new songs from the band’s fourth album AAARTH (which means “Bear”), but it all sounded like everyone was having a good time.
Some of the stand-out AAARTH songs, like “Y Bluen Eira” (which means “The Snowflake”) and “Cicada (Land on Your Back)” went over well with the audience. However, of course, older songs like “The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie” and “Whirring” from their debut The Big Roar had the loudest and best response from the audience.
After ten years of covering The Joy Formidable, they still sound as fresh and amazing as they did a decade ago. Here’s looking for another ten years.
Remaining tour dates:
Tancred (aka Jess Abbott) opened the show. We’ve been writing about Abbott since her days in Now, Now Every Children (later shortened to just Now, Now), but left the band in late 2013. Her first national tour, she said she travelled by herself in Oct 2014, but admitted that it was too awkward playing music by herself. By March 2016, we got to see her with a full band: bassist Terrence Vitali and drummer Kevin Medina. It’s that same lineup that we see Tancred at the Turf Club on Friday night.
Before “Underwear” (taken from her latest album Nightstand), Abbott mentioned that she used to live in Minneapolis, “It’s still cold here. There’s still good food and polite people.”
Near the end of their 40-min set, as they were tuning their guitars for the finale song “Pretty Girls”, Abbot mentioned how her black turtleneck made her look like Steve Jobs. Then Vitali interrupted about how he overheard her saying how she was sweating through her turtleneck.
“Why would you say that?!?” Abbot clarified that she was just nervous (sweating) about playing, but admitted that it sounded pretty funny hearing “sweating through my turtleneck”. She closed out the banter with her Steve Jobs joke: “Did you hear about the iPhone 69? It still sucks.”
Tancred’s Nightstand is out now on Polyvinyl.
As previously mentioned, The Joy Formidable was one of the first bands we covered a decade ago. The Wales/London band were brand new at the time in July 2008, but we wrote that “a band that I see a lot of potential in.” Our prediction came true, and over the years, we’ve seen the band on and off, whenever they came to town.
In April 2016, while on tour for Hitch, they played their biggest stage in Minneapolis - the 1,500-capacity First Avenue. We’ve only seen the band at smaller “club” gigs prior, so it felt like everyone was on their best behavior: “the First Avenue performance was more of a proper rock show, with bigger stage, full light rigs, and the band seemingly very focused.”
After a two year-absent, the band returned to the Twin Cities, headlining and selling out the Turf Club in St Paul on Friday night. It was nice to see the band at a small “pub gig” again. Bassist Rhydian Dafydd and singer “Ritzy” seemed really loose and making faces as they launched into “This Ladder Is Ours”. Even the drummer would occasionally rise from his seat to whip the audience into a deserving frenzy. Seeing the band this animated vs their button-down-proper gig in 2016, was a much better experience.
Even though St Paul was not their first show in this 2018 tour, it sure felt fresh and fun, as if they were just starting out. Maybe it’s also because it felt like the band really loved playing new songs from the band’s fourth album AAARTH (which means “Bear”), but it all sounded like everyone was having a good time.
Some of the stand-out AAARTH songs, like “Y Bluen Eira” (which means “The Snowflake”) and “Cicada (Land on Your Back)” went over well with the audience. However, of course, older songs like “The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie” and “Whirring” from their debut The Big Roar had the loudest and best response from the audience.
After ten years of covering The Joy Formidable, they still sound as fresh and amazing as they did a decade ago. Here’s looking for another ten years.
Remaining tour dates:
Nov 4 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern
Nov 6 – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
Nov 7 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts
Nov 8 – Buffalo, NY – Rec Room
Nov 9 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
Nov 10 – Washington, DC – Black Cat
Nov 6 – Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
Nov 7 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts
Nov 8 – Buffalo, NY – Rec Room
Nov 9 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
Nov 10 – Washington, DC – Black Cat
|
Tancred |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Joy Formidable at Turf Club, St Paul (02 Nov 2018) |
