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Nada Surf Rocking Out With The Whitlams! (4/23/03, Le Havre, France)Apr 25 '03 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Hang ten, dude.
I'd been looking forward to catching Nada Surf again since I last caught them with Ultimate Fakebook back in summer of 2001. I thought I'd most likely be waiting a long time... over here, concerts are rare, and the few groups that actually stop in France (sure, they'll do eight dates in Germany, but who cares about France hmmph) usually play in Paris, which is a good two hours and some change by car or train. And those trains don't run late enough to bring you back here, which basically means I miss a good percentage of the shows I want to see. Enter Nada Surf. Little did I know, these guys never slipped out of the spotlight over here like they did in the US. In fact, both the guitarist and bassist speak french fluently, as they spent some time over here in their youth, which allows them to communicate with their french fans and continue to build up their fan base. This also means they play a lot of dates over here. A couple months back they played in Rouen (an hour away) and I was psyched to go, but things fell through. I was one sad puppy. So imagine my excitement when I discovered that they were coming back... and to my town, no less. I was so there. The show kicked off with a group called "The Whitlams," an Australian four-piece who are, apparently, quite well-known in their country, having already won 3 ARIA awards (which are to Australia what the Juno Awards are to Canada). The group features Tim Freedman on keyboard (and lead vocals), Jak Housden on guitar (and backing vocals), Warwick Hornby on bass (and backing vocals), and Terepai Richmond on drums. They played what was probably a forty minute set, and weren't bad at all. Some of the more upbeat numbers reminded me of a less aggressive Ben Folds Five. Freedman has a smooth voice that you can't help but enjoy. While the few people I asked weren't all that into them, I appreciated it. Then came a bit of waiting around, setting up of the stage, etc. This is also the point where some guy tried to hit on me. He was not at all smooth. When he caught an accent and asked where I was from, and I stated I was american, he said "and you came all this way for me?" (in french of course, but still). I was not impressed. Then, Nada Surf came on stage and took to rocking. They kicked off the concert with "Blizzard of '77," which also happens to kick of their first album, followed by "Treading Water." Matthew did most of the speaking, entirely in french (and impressive french at that). He also shared with us that he had actually been to Le Havre once before... when he was four years old, he was coming over to France with his family, but they had too much baggage to pay the extra luggage fees for the plane, so they took a boat from NY to good ol' Le Havre, France. Of course, they played "Là Pour Ca," which was a big hit with the audience, with it being in french. They also did a nice little song switcharoo when halfway through "Stalemate," they began playing Joy Division's "Love With Tear Us Apart" before going back into the rest of "Stalemate." 'Twas a nice touch. At this point, the lights had been turned down (for the dramatic Joy Division cover, I suspect), and the group had to pick up their set lists to figure out what was next. The crowd got silent for a minute as they were looking, and I shouted out my request for "Bad Best Friend," which Daniel replied to with "oh f*ck, I wish!" So I didn't get my favorite Nada Surf song, but hopefully they'll keep it in mind the next time they come through. There were two encores... one was very much planned, as it was written on the set list (what the hell is the point of an encore if it's not spontaneous anyway?), and consisted of "Blonde on Blonde" and "Hyperspace." The second one was a surprise (although they didn't have to discuss what they would play, so I guess they're used to this) and consisted of three songs, but the bigger surprise was the second one they chose to play... that old hit, "Popular." Until very recently, this song was pretty much blacklisted from their live shows (I think they got sick of riding that wave), but it seems to have crept back in there, and is a bit fun, although not really that great of a live number. I mean, it's mostly lecturing, remember? All in all, it was a great show with a great ambiance, and I am very glad I got to see them again. They're doing a US tour (for the first time in two years) soon (I believe it starts in June), so check out their site (nadasurf.com) and catch them if you can! Set List: Blizzard of '77 Treading Water Amateur Icebox Inside of Love Hi-Speed Soul Là Pour Ca Bacardi Killian's Red Happy Kid Robot Stalemate (plus Love Will Tear Us Apart) Plan Hollywood Slow Down ---- Blonde on Blonde Hyperspace ---- (one song)* Popular (another song)* * sorry kids, these ones aren't listed on the set list and I forget what numbers they were.  |
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