we saw: Deerhunter @ Music Hall

"Light of My Focus, Light of My Bed"
(Photo by t-fal)
Friday night we saw Deerhunter for the third time since Microcastle leaked in June. While their LPR show was outstanding, the show at Music Hall had all the trappings of a classic rock show, minus all the cliches. The band jumped right into killer material ("Cryptograms", "Never Stops"), building momentum through kraut-rock rhythms and an absolutely bombastic wall of sound. As per usual, MHOW sounded impeccable, as you can tell from NYC Tapers recording (equally as impeccable, as expected. Dude srsly's got it going on.) After "Never Stops", Bradford and Co. dropped it down a knotch for Flourescent Grey's "Dr. Glass" which seamlessly segued into Cryptogram's "Hazel Street." Reverb and Delay pedals were in full effect. Things were getting epic. At this point there had been maybe two lines of banter, pre-show at that, making this show inherently different than LPR's Bradford story-teller show. They were on fire. The crowd knew it. And I think they did as well.

If that wasn't enough, they segued "Hazel Street" into "Nothing Ever Happened", arguably the most in your face (and poppiest) of the Microcastle material, and easily one of the best Deerhunter jams for highway rocking. 5 songs in and they were absolutely murdering it. The first part of their set took the ole North 6 to the astral plane, where they brought out parts of the Microcastle suite and "Flourescent Grey." The only thing missing was "Strange Lights", but no complaints on our end.

Get the show from NYC Taper asap.

Setlist
Cryptograms
Never Stops
Dr. Glass
Hazel St.
Nothing Ever Happened
Microcastle
Vox Celeste
Saved By Old Times
Fluorescent Grey
Calvary Scars II > Aux Out
encore break
Microcastle Intro
Agoraphobia
Twilight At Carbon Lake
Heatherwood
Operation