Okkervil River/The New Pornographers at the Newport

It’s 11:37PM and I’m on a dark and mostly empty I-71 South heading to Cincinnati. Emily is driving and this is the only time I’ll have this weekend to share my review of the concert that ended less than a half-an-hour ago. We had to leave before the encore for this trip, but even without the 3 or 4 songs that they were sure to play, The New Pornographers and openers Okkervil River put on a show we won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

With a mist falling on High Street, Okkervil River took the stage at exactly 8PM. I was surprised to have such a punctual show at a venue as notoriously late as The Newport, but I was certainly not going to complain. I was able to make it up to the front of the packed house just as the boys started into their first song. The energetic live sound was a surprise to someone such as myself who had just heard them for the first time this morning. My thoughts upon finishing up my first listening at work was that they reminded a lot of The Arcade Fire, but more with more of a rootsiness, a dustiness that had been produced out of the other famous band of Canadians. But in front of a huge crowd in a muggy rock club, they sounded like Okkervil River, a band that can create incredibly unexpected explosions of sound, songs that devolve into a wall of chaos and noise only to bounce into harmony with the shake of a tambourine, the splash of a high-hat. Even with the small loss of momentum halfway through the set, they were able to gain back the favor of the crowd by the end of “John Allyn Smith Sails”. They finished strongly, playing to their strengths, with a song that was dynamic and interesting, with a mandolin and crescendoes and all that good stuff that transforms good rock bands into something great.

The odd punctuality continued when The New Pornographers started into their set at 9:30 on the nose with the great, “My Rights Versus Yours”. They followed it up with a boisterous rendition of personal favorite, “The Old Showstoppers” in what would end up being a suitably “Challengers” heavy set. Luckily by the time they hit their groove, the sound issues that had been plaguing lead singer, Carl Newman had been resolved and the band was able to continue the show in earnest.

I was a bit surprised that a show as big as this one (the last time the New Pornographers had passed through our fair city was in 2003 when they played the now-defunct Little Brothers, RIP) had such a stationary and quiet crowd. I think it was more likely the result of reverence or awe than ambivalence, especially given the huge reaction Neko and Co. got at the end of nearly every song. The dancing was kept to a minimum, aside from a few small pockets that we were able to observe from the balcony, but that didn’t stop Carl Newman from attempting to initiate a dance contest. Apparently the kids in the front row were a good deal more active than those further back in the crowd.

I was less surprised, however, at the reaction that Neko was getting from the crowd. Each song she was featured in got huge applause from the full-house, songs like “My Street”, “Go Places” and “Challengers”, and rightfully so. Her vocals were as incredible as ever, clear and crisp and full of heart and passion. She could captivate a crowd all by herself, but when paired with the other incredible musicians in the New Pornographers, it was like some futuristic super-weapon of sound, a relic of the retro-future where we all wear silver lycra and wars are all fought with music. In this alternate reality of lyrical battles, The New Pornographers, with Neko and Newman at their disposal, would be the ultimate weapon, leveling all who dare to step into their cross-hairs.

We were all casualties of that epic power this night. When the final electrifying notes of “The Bleeding Heart Show” faded into the night, we had to scrape our wrecked bodies off the sticky balcony floor and drag our grateful ears out against their will. If we could have experienced that delicious destruction all night and all day we would have gladly “suffered” at their hands.

"John Allyn Smith Sails" Okkervil River
"All the Old Showstoppers" The New Pornographers

Okkervil River: Official MySpace Buy

The New Pornographers: Official MySpace Buy