The Walkmen + The Rogers Sisters

We’ve Been Had When I heard the Walkmen, a relatively well-known New York indie rock band, were playing three times in one night at New York’s Knitting Factory, I thought it was just a mistake on the calendar. Then I got the Walkmen e-newsletter confirming their bizarre experiment and started contemplating going to all three shows. Would it be crazy? Yes. Most definitely crazier than seeing them four nights in a row (which, by the way, this reporter has certainly done before). But this time, I thought I would go and write about the experience and gauge whether or not the Walkmen could stand the test of pulling off three up-to-par shows in one night. The Early Show During the early (seven o’clock) show, I saw the Rogers Sisters for the first time. I had heard a couple songs online here and there, but I didn’t really know what they were about. I was kind of surprised to see that they weren’t as electro as I thought they’d be. This was a good thing, in my humble opinion. Their guitars were crunchy, their vocals reminded me of the B-52s with Jennifer Rogers and Miyuki Furtado’s call and response banter embodying much of the back and forth charm between Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson (minus the bouffant Georgian hair). I also like girl drummers who hit just as hard as the boys, which Laura Rogers most certainly did — unafraid to sweat, mind you. The most memorable lyric of their set was “Your fantasies are stupid.” I wondered, “Was it stupid of the Walkmen to fantasize about doing three shows in one night?” After the Rogers Sisters, singer-songwriter Tanner Boyle stepped up to the stage. I thought maybe he was checking the guitar and mic for an acoustic set by Walkmen leader singer Hamilton Leithauser or something. I was wrong, of course — he was actually performing. I don’t know what his connection to the Walkmen is, but I didn’t really get anything out of his performance at all. His voice was at best O.K., but with no allure. His songs seemed immature and self-wallowing. But Boyle himself seemed humble and nervous, so perhaps he just had performance jitters and didn’t accomplish his best set. He sang earnestly with his eyes closed for much of the time, strumming melodically but not particularly interestingly — his whispery voice almost a monotone the whole way through. I imagine it was probably tough for him to follow the jaunty Rogers Sisters set and precede the evening’s much-awaited headliners, so I’ll file him under “One More Chance.” Finally, the Walkmen appeared to play old and new songs to a cheering crowd that was ready to see what the early show would bring. Surprisingly, they started their set with the gentle number “What’s In It For Me”, which also opens their upcoming album, Bows and Arrows. Then they played an equally mellow song, “Revenge Wears No Wristwatch”, from their critically-acclaimed 2001 release, Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone, followed by one of my personal live favorites, “The Rat”, with one of the most-charged Walkmen lyrics to date: “You’ve got a nerve to be asking a favor / You’ve got a nerve to be calling my number / I know we’ve been through this before / Can’t you see me? / I’m pounding on your door!” When Hamilton Leithauser is spewing forth these lyrics and leaning into the audience all red in the face, I just can’t help but scream along with him. The intensity behind Leithauser’s vocals, along with Matt Barrick’s pounding drums and Paul Maroon’s thrust-your-hand-in-the-air guitar part, is simply electrifying. Other new songs included “138th Street”, a song that could easily go acoustic, singer-songwriter style, “Thinking of a Dream I Had”, which has Leithauser stretching his vocal chords to the limit again, screaming contrastingly head-in-the-clouds lyrics like “I’m waiting for a subway ride / I’m waiting for a dream to arrive.” They also played a revamped version of “No Christmas While I’m Talking”. Instead of the original’s stripped down, slow-moving music, this version filled up the song’s dark, empty spaces with keyboard parts that sparkled like blinking holiday lights. Leithauser’s long hold on some of the lyrics became less dramatic in the process, but I reveled in the fact that I’ve never seen keyboardist Walter Martin move so much on stage, like he was bopping along to the pep of the song. It really got me pumped up for the rest of the set, which included “Wake Up”, “My Old Man”, a new song that starts out beautifully with a piano part, and the crowd-pleasing, Saturn-selling “We’ve Been Had”. The Middle Show I was ready to see the Roger Sisters again when they stepped onstage in fresh duds (Jennifer Rogers put on her lipstick on stage). They were even more energetic than before, and interacted more with each other. That’s probably when I noticed they didn’t really interact too much with the audience. So unless people were Rogers Sisters fans, I didn’t feel too much exhilarated energy from the crowd. I still liked their music as they ended with “Zero Point”, where the lyrics ask the audience, “Is anybody listening?” Indeed, I was listening, but I didn’t think I could go through a third set. The Walkmen then promptly took the stage in a piano-less set with many of the same songs as before, but included the wonderfully emotional “French Vacation”, the blood-pumping “Little House of Savages”, and a cover of the Modern Lovers song “Fly Into Mystery”. What I noticed this time about their set is how much fun they are to watch. Bassist Peter Bauer perpetually sweats boatloads, convulsing while he performs like he’s in some sort of Netherworld trance. Maroon, the guitarist, constantly makes eye contact with people in the crowd and smiles ever so charmingly. Leithauser keeps himself in the audience’s face by stepping on the monitors and leaning forward into the front of the crowd (causing many to flinch back). Barrick throttles those drums, breaking sticks left and right. I also found myself looking to see if Martin, the most motionless keyboardist on the planet, was moving at all. All of these elements and probably a little bit of alcohol made this set a tad more exciting as the crowd danced and rocked out a little more. The Late Show I was a little wussy and tired and decided to skip the Rogers Sisters’ third set. Uh . . . sorry? When the Walkmen took the Knitting Factory stage for the third time that night, I honestly wasn’t sure I was capable of getting through a third set. But by the time they played “Rue the Day”, I knew my mind was swimming with the music. My friends and I started jumping up and down, shouting out the lyrics we knew and loved: “We would tip toe out in the evening / Never done such things before…I could barely stand up straight / Oh, there’s a memory calling / calling way too loud and way too strong / twisting all the bad things into good.” Leithauser’s vocals were still holding strong, though I imagine they had to be sore with all of the strenuous exercise. The band did two encores and ended the night with “Look Out the Window”, a song that always makes me feel like I’m lounging in some tropical luau. It was a perfect way to end the night. Around two in the morning, the fiasco was over, and I had been at the Knitting Factory for over six hours, and my eyes were starting to water with the thought of sleep. On our way home, my friend and I kept singing “Rue the Day” over and over. I knew that when I looked back at this evening, I would fondly remember it as a youthful, fun experiment spent with a band whose songs tap into the joys and woes of my generation. And for that alone, it was worth the exhaustion.