{"id":20958,"date":"2014-04-07T13:33:11","date_gmt":"2014-04-07T21:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/?p=20958"},"modified":"2017-05-01T11:05:35","modified_gmt":"2017-05-01T19:05:35","slug":"watch-the-war-on-drugs-on-kcrw-brief-review-of-troubadour-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/2014-04\/watch-the-war-on-drugs-on-kcrw-brief-review-of-troubadour-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch The War On Drugs on KCRW–Brief Review of Troubadour Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WAR<\/a><\/p>\n

Last Friday Los Angeles waged The War On Drugs<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 TWOD<\/strong> first appeared on KCRW<\/strong> in the morning and let fly with a scintillating and superbly captured set of songs (you can listen to the whole set HERE<\/strong><\/a>).\u00a0 Watch the band’s performances of An Ocean In Between The Waves<\/strong><\/em> and Disappearing<\/strong><\/em> on KCRW <\/strong>below.<\/p>\n

Later that night the band played the hallowed, sold-out Troubadour<\/strong>.\u00a0 The band came out blazing with their wall-of-jangle hypno-taze and took their songs to a higher plane beyond their superb Lost In The Dream<\/strong><\/em> studio representations, but especially on Under Pressure<\/strong><\/em>, An Ocean In Between The Waves<\/strong><\/em> and Eyes to the Wind<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 Adam Granduciel<\/strong> was gracious and giving the entire night, whipping up the crowd repeatedly with his Les Paul<\/strong> and Firebird<\/strong> fingerings, feelings and ferocity, the likes of which haven’t been seen or heard outside of the legendary Neil Young <\/strong>and his Old Black <\/strong>throttlings.\u00a0 While his songwriting and locomotive delivery shine, Granduciel<\/strong> has also grown into a gifted vocalist, with his Dylan<\/strong>-esque mien and variable phrasings.\u00a0 Granduciel<\/strong> is backed by a crew of gifted musicians (and especially drummer Charlie Hall<\/strong>), who fantastically fill the sound-train’s seats and set it to chugging full steam down the tracks.<\/p>\n

One minor complaint about the set would be that with up to seven members and instruments on stage fighting for ear-space, the band members seemed at times to unconsciously be fighting for decibels and to be heard (we could have done with less dominant bass in the mix, as good as it was, and more sound separation to show off all the players–ferheavensake if you’re going to bring a horn player, let’s hear what you’re paying for).\u00a0 It was not surprising, then, that some of the best moments of the evening for us were when the band down-throttled for the balladry and comparatively-spare sounds and dynamics heard live on Disappearing<\/strong><\/em> and Suffering<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 The band also seemed to lose the thread towards the end of their main set which belied the wearying effects of incessant touring.\u00a0 But they came back strong to close out with a powerful reading of Lennon’s Mind Games<\/em><\/strong> and Arms Like Boulders<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>before closing with a rousing encore.<\/p>\n

The War On Drugs<\/strong> provided some of the most mesmerizing and propulsive ensemble sounds that we have heard in quite some time on Friday at the Troubadour<\/strong>.\u00a0 If you get a chance to see them, don’t ya miss it (and especially you guitar- and rig-geeks).<\/p>\n

The full Troubadour<\/strong> setlist is at bottom.\u00a0 Photo at top by Debi Del Grande<\/strong> via\u00a0L.A. Record<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n