Live Review: Japandroids + The Walkmen @ The Cabooze

I can’t imagine a ton of bands that could follow the explosive Japandroids and their great live set, but The Walkmen proved up to the challenge Friday night at the Cabooze for what was a really great night of music.

Arriving in time to see the last song from decontructionalist pop band Miniature Tiger, it was just a short wait to see one of my favorite live bands of the last two years, the Vancover duo Japandroids.   Playing songs from their excellent debut album Post-Nothing  and some of the bands recent 7” singles, the group played a too short 40 minute set that left the packed crowd wanting more.  As always, the duo sounded massive and drummer David Prowse and lead singer/guitarist Brian King showed why they are one of the most entertaining live bands around right now.  This was especially true for King, who spent the set running around stage, flailing on his guitar and screaming out lyrics, which included a new trick of him sticking his tongue out like a lizard when he sang the extended notes of their fuzzy pop gems.   My biggest complaint?  The set was way too short.  Hopefully next time the band come back to our city they will be in a headlining slot that allows them to play longer than this short opening slot set allowed them to.

After such a blistering set, it would have been easy for The Walkmen to seem timid or lackluster, but that wasn’t the case at all.  Relying heavily on material from their recently released album Lisbon, the group were less viscerally intense than Japandroids, but the band had a more subtle intensity that allowed them to captivate the audience.  Highlights included early set Lisbon highlights “Angela Surf City,” “Woe is Me” and “Juveniles” and end of set crowd pleasers “In the New Year” and encore highlight “The Rat.”  The fact that I could have left after the Japandroids awesome set and still been happy only made The Walkmen’s solid set even more rewarding and created what was a highly entertaining night of great indie music. 

     -Josh

View the full photo set HERE