Last night I caught Hamilton Leithauser’s second show of the night (9:30 p.m.) at Joe’s Pub (he also played two shows on Tuesday night). These served as Leithauser’s debut shows as a solo artist in preparation for the release of his debut album Black Hours (June 3, Ribbon Music)
In the dark, contained space that is Manhattan’s Joe’s Pub, Hamilton took the stage in what was one of his first solo performances. Although the word “solo” may be misleading. As he came out on stage, more and more people piled out of the door like a clown car, about 14 in total (I think). This crew included The Walkmen’s guitarist Paul Maroon, The Cave Singers/Fleet Foxes member Morgan Henderson, and his wife, Anna Stumpf. The familial familiarity continued in the crowd, where I spotted Walter Martin of The Walkmen and Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes.
Leithauser’s voice was hoarse from the demand of playing 4 shows in 2 days, but he powered through it and still managed to impress. He played through the new album from front to back, deluxe album bonus tracks and all. His band gave the songs a powerful oomph will all kinds of influences spread throughout. There were some hushed moments and some loud instance that rivaled some of The Walkmen’s loudest. There was also a fair share of The Walkmen callbacks, especially when you have Paul Maroon’s signature guitar-lines.
Considering Leithauser was already a frontman, this whole solo act thing came quite easy to him. He’s a natural. The new songs left me impressed, including the already shared first single “Alexandra” and 11 O’Clock Friday Night. Those were only some of the highlights of the night, which bodes well for the album which I expect to be a knockout. Would you expect anything less?
Losing a band like The Walkmen becomes a little bit easier knowing that their members are still making music as honestly and true as they were before. The packed Joe’s pub only fit about 190 or so people, and everyone of them left impressed at what Hamilton Leithauser gave us.
Check out some more photos from the show below.
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