“It’s a lot easier to build a great rock and roll set out of a great set of great rock and roll songs,” I noted following Nada Surf’s 2005 performance at the 400 Bar. Having been around a while now – they formed in 1992 – the band has an abundance of great songs to choose from for their live sets. When their 5th album Lucky was released in February on Barsuk, that number ballooned yet again.
Nada Surf is comprised of founding members Matthew Caws (vocals and guitar) and Daniel Lorca (bass) and Ira Elliot (drums) who joined the band in 1995.
On Thursday, at their well-attended First Avenue Main Room show, the band had in tow Los Angeles-based Sea Wolf as openers. Sea Wolf put on a bouncy, darkish set of pop that I was glad I got a chance to see a bit of. Initially I’d been a bit apprehensive to hear yet another band with “wolf” in its name, but there’s no need to be scared of this one. (Check out the wolf band name related items in the “Influences” section on their MySpace to appreciate the band’s humor about their own name.)
Before the members of Nada Surf took to the stage, 5 huge round mirrors (which looked like gigantic cymbals before fully erected) were set up on stage. Reveille Mag’s Kyle Matteson and I tried to remember if the band had used these at previous Minneapolis shows, but a quick check later of the photo accompanying the 2005 HWTS review of the Fine Line show answers that question; they were in place for that show. The mirrors are definitely cool, giving the audience a chance to see their own reflections while watching the band, a physical representation of what should happen in live performance anyway, i.e. energy should be exchanged back and forth not just one way.
Finally Nada Surf emerged onstage. Bassist Daniel Lorca was already smoking one of about 8 cigarettes he would smoke during the course of the band’s set. Martin Wenk of Calexico also emerged and would be joining the band on keyboards and horns tonight.
The band’s set (listed in full below) contained most of the songs the band has been playing on tour this year, but Nada Surf appears to be a band that likes to be mix up the order quite liberally from show to show.
Thursday night, they opened strongly with “Concrete Bed” from The Weight is A Gift (2005) and followed it up with “Happy Kid” off Let Go (2002). Matthew Caws introduced Wenk and announced how happy they were to finally be playing this room (First Ave) before cracking open the first song from their new album, Lucky, “Whose Authority.” (Though “See These Bones” was my early favorite off Lucky, “Whose Authority” soon grew on me especially after seeing the video of the single.)
It was good to see Matthew Caws playing rock star up by the front edge of the First Ave stage, where there were clearly a lot of hard core Nada Surf fans, and not just a few guys who looked like record store clerks in the front row mouthing every word. The band turned the new “Weightless” into a sing-a-long, guiding us through a rehearsal of our part for a minute or so before starting the song. For “Inside of Love” Caws trained us in on a little two step, and it was cool to see the whole crowd swaying like a throng of Motown backup singers. “Fruit Fly” (from Let Go) rocked more live than I had expected it to, but I wish I could have heard better what Wenk was doing on the vocoder on this song.
About ten songs into the set on while the band was playing “80 Windows,” the only song we’d hear this night from The Proximity Effect(2000) I stopped trying to count the number of cigarettes Lorca was smoking and started to remember how freaking relaxing second hand smoke can be. I haven’t smoked a cigarette first-hand in well over six months, so maybe it was vicarious enjoyment, but it did make me momentarily miss the days when smelling like cigarettes was an element of Twin Cities’ rock shows as integral as ringing ears and hangovers.
After 18 songs, the band left the stage for a few minutes, only to return for a 4-song encore. During the encore, indie dream girl (and I’m not the first person on the internet to use that term to describe her) Lisa Fendelander from Sea Wolf joined Nada Surf on accordion for “Blonde on Blonde.” About this time, Caws also called attention to the fact that the Oxfam America folks were in the house and suggested we pick up some lit on climate change and “give it to your non-believer friends.”
Nada Surf Set List – First Avenue Minneapolis 4/3/08
- Concrete Bed
- Happy Kid
- Whose Authority
- What is Your Secret?
- Weightless
- Killians Red
- I Like What You Say
- Inside of Love
- Fruit Fly
- 80 Windows
- Hi-Speed Soul
- 12. Paper Boats
- Stalemate / Love Will Tear Us Apart
- Ice On The Wings
- The Fox.
- Do It Again
- Beautiful Beat
- See These Bones
Encore
1. Blizzard of ‘77
2. Blonde on Blonde
3. Always Love
4. The Blankest Year
See all photos by Stacy Schwartz here.