The Walkmen

The Walkmen @ Undertaking Home, Leeds, UK, August 22, 2023,

Aug 24, 2023
By Dom Gourlay
Images by Shaun Gordon
Internet Unique

When wanting again at music that formed the twenty first century, one band whose identify deserves a point out are The Walkmen. Having fashioned in 2000 out the ashes of seminal post-punk quintet Jonathan Hearth*Eater and maybe lesser recognized outfit The Recoys, the (then) Washington DC based mostly five-piece went on to launch six critically acclaimed albums over a thirteen-year interval that established them as one of the vital constant musical forces from that period. As with all good issues, The Walkmen story seemingly got here to an finish as 2013 drew to an in depth having launched into one other profitable tour for sixth and last lengthy participant Heaven.

One of many many aspects that set The Walkmen other than a lot of their contemporaries was the seemingly innocuous panache they needed to ship the sudden at any given time. By no means constrained by type or style, The Walkmen’s sound as such might by no means be outlined or pigeonholed into anyone, particular compartment. But on the identical time their music at all times was immediately recognisable as being that of The Walkmen. So, when the band introduced final December they’d be reuniting for some reveals in 2023, it’s in all probability truthful to say lots of people jumped for pleasure on the prospect of seeing a band many thought would by no means share a stage once more.

Whereas 2004’s Bows & Arrows arguably stays their hottest report, in all probability due in no small half to it that includes “The Rat”, undoubtedly The Walkmen’s finest recognized track. Each report that adopted heralded a brand new facet to the band’s make-up, each taking them to locations they’d by no means been earlier than. Certainly, if anybody studying that is unfamiliar with The Walkmen’s output I’d in all probability urge them to start out from the tip (2012’s Heaven) and work backwards, such are the wealthy endeavours of the band’s later works. However that’s simply me, but can be massively indicative of a band whose fanbase represents so many various eras. Certainly, stand ten Walkmen followers in line and ask them for his or her favorite track and album and also you’ll most definitely hear ten completely different solutions (as we did this night when the band politely requested for viewers requests reasonably than sticking to the pre-planned encore decisions however extra of that later).

So, right here we’re in Leeds (finally after a tortuous three-and-a-half hours drive filled with highway closures and diversions that trigger us to overlook the help act, Roddy Woomble’s Virtually Nothing) on the metropolis’s latest music venue, Undertaking Home. A collaborative enterprise between among the metropolis’s most established unbiased promoters, Undertaking Home is located in a former tile warehouse within the Armley Highway district and is eerily paying homage to many warehouse areas that emerged throughout the Nineteen Eighties as dance and rave tradition took over the underground then the mainstream. It’s additionally one of the vital buyer pleasant areas Below the Radar has visited in latest months, its large open areas making entry and vantage factors amenable from each angle.

Having performed quite a few reveals and festivals already this 12 months together with Inexperienced Man within the Welsh Brecon Beacons, tonight represents The Walkmen’s first present in a UK membership venue for over a decade, and with a again catalogue of so many riches to select from, we’re spoiled from the outset. Opening with a trio of songs off 2010’s fourth lengthy participant You & Me, launched on UK unbiased Fierce Panda whose head honcho Simon Williams can be in attendance this night. It feels just like the calm earlier than the storm as a soothing “Donde Esta La Playa” builds and grows earlier than erupting right into a livid “On The Water” and anthemic “In The New Yr”, vocalist Hamilton Leithauser eradicating his jacket nearly to sign the occasion having began.

Backed by guitarist Paul Maroon, bass participant/keyboard participant/multi-instrumentalists Walter Martin and Peter Bauer plus drummer Matt Garrick, it seems like they’ve by no means been away such are the taut deliveries of each track. Moderately than play a chronologically organized set, tonight’s present supplies a profession spanning showcase of The Walkmen’s best compositions. Whether or not or not it’s “Juveniles” or “Woe Is Me” off 2010’s Lisbon or “All Arms And The Cook dinner” off 2006’s understated third report A Hundred Miles Off. Each track right here hits the spot, and a few.

Unsurprisingly, the double whammy of “The Rat” and “Little Home Of Savages” in the direction of the again finish of the set receives rapturous applause, as does Leithauser’s story in regards to the time they performed The Cockpit in Leeds and encountered “the worst sound engineer in historical past!” Closing the principle set on “Heaven”, the title observe and solely track performed off their final album. Leithauser then invitations the viewers to request what they need to hear within the encore, ditching “I Misplaced You” from the setlist for a heartfelt rendition of “Louisiana”, the opener off the aforementioned A Hundred Miles Off.

Ending on a triumphant “We’ve Been Had”, the primary track the band ever wrote collectively. Leithauser then makes his strategy to the barrier to shake fingers with one and all whereas the band play out its last notes. If something, tonight felt like a celebration, a second to cherish. Let’s hope there’s extra reveals to savour, even when new materials appears unlikely at current.