Australian psych rockers Pond seem to never stop touring, as we caught them last year at Bowery Ballroom when they were touring in support of their great 2017 offering The Weather (released viaMarathon Artists). The tour has continued throughout 2018, which included a performance at the main stage of Governors Ball this year and a return trip to Brooklyn on November 8th for a performance at Elsewhere.
The night kicked off with an unusual but oddly captivating performance from Captured Tracks‘ artist Juan Wauters. He wanted to bring something new to the table in terms of connecting the audience to his set, which included him performing only a select number of tunes but for such a long duration that the crowd was singing it along with him soon after, in-between his sprints on stage and even racing one fans in the middle of the crowd – who actually ended up hitting his head on the wall (all while Pond’s Nick Allbrook soundtracked it on stage with his flute playing). Water even tested the audiences knowledge of a particular song about fruit, calling on different members of the crowd to recite a line until they completing it to perfection without screwing up. It took many tries, but by the end of his set, they nailed it. It wasn’t a usual opening performance but it’s one that those in attendance won’t forget anytime soon.
Pond took the stage not long after and while the set started similar to the one that we caught at Governors Ball, things shifted hear once they integrated their new 2018 singles such as “Burnt Out Star” and “Sixteen Days.” The bands relentless dedicating to touring has cleary paid off, as they were as tight as I’ve ever seen them, absolutely tearing through the setlist, giving old favorites such as such as “Man It Feels Like Space Again Waiting Around for Grace,” “Man It Feels Like Space Again” and “Waiting Around for Grace” an exciting new lease of life in the live format. They even worked in a cover of Bee Gees’ “Jive Talkin'” that they weaved right into “Paint Me Silver.”
It’s been amazing to see Allbrook come into his own as a frontman, with body-bending positions while rocking out and his comfortability navigating within the crowd and even going on one fan’s shoulders to really work them into a frenzy. With another new album on the horizon in 2019, it seems Pond has no signs of slowing down and we can probably expect another return trip from them sometime next year.
Find a full gallery of photos from both Juan Wauters and Pond’s sets posted in the gallery below, along with Pond’s setlist.
Juan Wauters:
Pond:
1. 30.000 Megatons
2. Sweep Me Off My Feet
3. Sixteen Days
4. Waiting Around for Grace
5. Whatever Happened to the Million Head Collide
6. Fire in the Water
7. Zen Automaton
8. Don’t Look at the Sun or You’ll Go Blind
9. Burnt Out Star
10. Giant Tortoise / Eye Pattern Blindness
11. Jive Talkin’ / Paint Me Silver (Bee Gees cover)
12. The Weather
Encore:
13. Midnight Mass (At the Market St. Payphone)
14. Man It Feels Like Space Again
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