[Review + Pics] The New Pornographers w/ The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart | Cannery Ballroom | November 4, 2014

The New Pornographers. Photo by Caroline Bowman.

The New Pornographers & The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Cannery Ballroom, Nashville, TN
November 4, 2014

Photos by Caroline Bowman

Lack luster crowds were reportedly the theme all over town on Tuesday, and, amazingly enough, The New Pornographers and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart at Cannery Ballroom, were fellow victims of the carnage. Was it because there were no less than 8 kick ass shows going on around town, or a massive post Halloween hangover? If we knew the answer to that, we would be sitting on a yacht in St. Tropez.

We’ll just stick to what we know how to do, and tell you about the show. Keep reading for our thoughts plus some great shots from Caroline Bowman.

After a minor kerpuffle with photo passes at the door, which caused us to miss photo ops with The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, we made our way into a possibly half full room. The nonplussed openers wouldn’t have known the difference though. They wore out the corner sitting stage, and got the obligatory head nods from the far older, NPR influenced crowd. It was clear that the fans tonight were here to relive their love of early aughts Pornos. Regardless, the young touring openers left everything they had on stage with a brief 45 minute set of all recognizable poppy jams. The beauty of a band like POBPAH is that they adopt the mold of status quo indie pop bands, but supplement their sound in with an almost psychedelic take on guitar which lift them into a higher echelon in this reviewers book.  Throw in female vocalist, Jessica Weiss (a founding member of Fear Of Men), who could hold her own with most anyone in Nashville, and it was a real treat.

The New Pornographers. Photo by Caroline Bowman.

It’s amazing they didn’t lose us during the nearly 1.5 hour set break, but we fought through with an extra PBR or two while technicians worked on a “faulty monitor”. However, when the Pornos finally took the stage, front man A.C. Newman brought a bit of comic relief when he announced that they really needed to do an hour and a half of cocaine before being able to perform for us.

The New Pornographers. Photo by Caroline Bowman.

The angsty and tired feelings began to melt away as the band dove straight into “Brill Bruisers” and then “Myriad Harbor”. After Newman fed the crowd out of his hand with a smattering of hits from their stand out 2014 release and deep into their back catalogue.  The thing that stood out to us the most during their set was how influential a band like The New Pornographers were in crafting the sound of bands like, fellow Canadians, The Arcade Fire.

The New Pornographers. Photo by Caroline Bowman.

You could tell that the band was genuinely disappointed by the long delay, and Newman again apologized with a story of him waiting to see a band he was ecstatic to see a few years ago, but he was enraged when he had to wait for an hour.  “I imagine a lot of you feel that way right now”, he said humbly to the crowd.

The New Pornographers. Photo by Caroline Bowman.

The situation was out of the control of most everyone except a surely frustrated production team at Cannery Ballroom, but the crowd that stayed was rewarded, and we were thrilled to finally check The New Pornographers off of our bucket list.  If you get the chance to catch them on their current tour, wear comfortable shoes in case of an equipment malfunction, but don’t miss out on the opportunity to see these guys live.

The New Pornographers. Photo by Caroline Bowman.