Last year was the 20th anniversary for The New Pornographers’ debut album Mass Romantic, and for obvious reasons they couldn’t throw a big celebration then… so they delayed it a year! When I heard they were releasing a new 21st Anniversary edition vinyl, I was happy. Then I was more excited to find out they were doing an accompanying tour, playing the whole thing front-to-back. And I was even more excited that they would be playing two shows in each town; one for Mass Romantic, and a second for a full playthrough of Twin Cinema (celebrating that album’s 16th anniversary). How could someone choose just one of those shows? I sure couldn’t, so I went to both!
Opening both nights was Aoife Nessa Frances, from Dublin (if the name didn’t give it away) on her first North American tour. Joined by a small backing band of drums & keys, her voice drove the chill, alt-folk rock songs that lilted over the audience. She was an excellent opening act, and I’ll have to be sure to keep an ear out for her in the future.
Night One - Mass Romantic
With a showtune blaring over the loudspeaker, the band took the stage to massive applause. They immediately joked that we would need to do better than that, since the show was being live streamed to the world, to which the crowd happily obliged.
Carl gave a quick “we’re from here!” as the band launched into the bombastic title track, Newman and Neko Case’s voices blending together perfectly, as well as those of Kathryn Calder, on keys, and honourary member Nora O’Conner, who can be heard on both albums being celebrated over the two nights.
A few songs in, the enigmatic Dan Bejar took to the stage to thunderous cheers (and some light ribbing from Newman) for “Jackie”, as he would periodically show up through the set when needed. The band was clearly feeding off the energy of the hometown crowd, joking back & forth between songs, as they sounded near-perfect blasting through more favourites like “Letter From an Occupant” and “The Body Says No”, before the big finish of “Breakin’ The Law”.
Once the album was finished, the band took a brief intermission before returning for “a bunch of songs”, starting with the quirky Bejar-fronted “Myriad Harbour” as they went through just about the rest of their career, saving songs from Twin Cinema until the next night (well, almost). Highlights included more of Dan’s songs like “War on the East Coast”, as well as the big energy of “Dancehall Domine” and “Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk”.
Dan joined the band one final time for the absolutely beautiful “Testament to Youth in Verse” as the song swelled with a chorus of “no no no”, before ending the night with the one exception to the above. Explaining it was for the benefit of the livestream, they snuck in a single song from Twin Cinema, the perennial favourite (myself very much included), “The Bleeding Heart Show” as Neko’s voice thundered through the theatre for an incredibly emotional finish to the show. They took their bows and I was actually kind of glad there was no encore, as that was the perfect two-song combo to finish the first night.
Night Two - Twin Cinema
The second night was also the final night to the run of shows, which meant very “last night of tour” vibes – everyone clearly having fun, especially between songs where they were a bit more goofy and playful with each other and the crowd. And very grateful to be up there doing their thing (especially grateful to the one person near the front who yelled they had been to all twelve shows on this tour).
The set once again began with the title track of the album, kicking things into a high gear, especially with the early smash single “Use It”. Then right after, Newman joked how strange it was to be playing “The Bleeding Heart Show” forth in the set. Though it was no less emotionally impactful.
As usual, Bejar was on & off stage for songs like the frenetic “Jackie, Dressed in Cobras”, and they had another special guest for the show: Paul Rigby playing mandolin on “Falling Through Your Clothes”. The simmering energy of “Stacked Crooked” brought the album to a close, as they took a brief intermission before the next half of the show.
The second part of the show was close to the first night; songs spanning the rest of their oeuvre (except for Mass Romantic, of course), with a similar setlist to the previous night. They still opened with “Myriad Harbour” and the dreamy “Champions of Red Wine”, but also slipped in songs like the aptly named “High Ticket Attraction”, and “Born With a Sound” which also showcased Nora O’Connor’s voice.
After a one-two punch of “Brill Bruisers” and “The Laws Have Changed”, they brought the second night to a close with the beautiful (and pseudo-holiday?) “The Spirit of Giving”, the entire band on stage, voices all soaring to the back of the room.
I can’t say I’ve quite been a fan of The New Pornographers for the entire twenty-one years – closer to 16 as I joined in around the release of Twin Cinema, as I’m sure many others did. But both nights were just full of an incredible amount of love and nostalgia. I’ve seen the band play live maybe a dozen or so times in that span, in a few different forms, and I can easily say these two nights were the best I’ve ever seen them.
