The New Pornographers Get Graphic
Usually polite Canadian group play Bowery, lose it.
Administrator
August 22, 2007
The New Pornographers, above. (If not, a large Mormon family—it’s kind of blurry.)
“Someone is so getting fired for this,” mutters songwriter A.C. Newman of The New Pornographers. And so begins an unusual set for the motley Canadian band. At New York’s Bowery Ballroom to celebrate the release of their latest album, Challengers, it seems as if somehow the venue has conspired against them.
The tech stuff falls apart. Someone in the back keeps cat-calling Neko Case a lion, adding “eh?” to punctuate his drunken slurs. There are “Canadian” references to hosers and Feist. Oh, and the band plays a song or two.
Despite awkward sketch-comedy banter between songs, Newman, Case, and Dan Bejar (along with the other 257 musicians on stage) wow the crowd with high-energy performances and their trademark big band pop. Guitars are strummed. Accordions are folded. The whole night goes down without a hitch—except for all those aforementioned hitches. And in case you’re interested, job opening for sound guy at Bowery. —Nick Haramis
Photo by Ryan Armes
