The New Pornographers are getting the band back together! OK, technically the band never broke up; just two years ago they released their eighth album In The Morse Code Of Brake Lights. But until last night they hadn't played a concert since March 2020, and more importantly, key contributors Dan Bejar (of Destroyer fame) and Neko Case (of Neko Case fame) have not been full-time Pornographers for quite a while now. So their involvement in a series of shows commemorating the 21st anniversary of the band's debut album Mass Romantic is very exciting.
Those shows, a series of two-night stands in which the band plays through Mass Romantic the first night and 2005's epic Twin Cinema the second night, began last night in Woodstock at Levon Helm Studios. The New Pornos have been rehearsing at the venue in recent days, and they posted various photos and videos from those sessions. And now some footage from Monday's intimate gig is trickling online. The gig consisted of two sets: first Mass Romantic in full, then a grab bag from across their discography.
Here's "Execution Day":
Here's "The Laws Have Changed" (click past the first photo for the footage):
And here's "Myriad Harbor":
And here's a really nice photo set from the evening:
And here are those teaser videos from the rehearsal:
https://twitter.com/ACNewman/status/1465017542288756737
https://twitter.com/ACNewman/status/1465086561083604996
https://twitter.com/JoeSeiders/status/1464683422102827009
https://twitter.com/matadorrecords/status/1465526355672637447
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CWzQ3cwg_MF/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading
The Mass Romantic reissue is dropping 12/10.
