REVIEW: Hovvdy w/ Video Age | 3.5.25 @ The Basement East [PHOTOS]

Hovvdy
w/ Video Age
The Basement East; Nashville, TN
March 5, 2025

Review and photos by Drake Boling

Texas bred, Nashville based indie pop duo Hovvdy recently kicked off their spring tour at The Basement East, still enjoying a wave of buzz for their 2024 self-titled fifth album. Along for the ride was New Orleans’ Video Age, who delivered a tonally distinct, yet ultimately complimentary opening set for the Nashville transplants. 

To be upfront, this review will skew heavy on highlighting Video Age, for they are a band that is very important to me, and one whose music I’m a lot more familiar with. This should read as no slight to Hovvdy, but there is not much I care about in my life as much as the band Video Age. Thank you.

VIDEO AGE

I had not seen this band perform live since 2019, at MOTR, a very small bar in Cincinnati. They mostly played songs from their relatively lo-fi debut Living Alone and their much more synthy and polished follow-up, Pop Therapy. A lot has changed since 2019. Since then, the band has released two more exquisite albums that I absolutely could not wait to see brought to life. 

The first night of a tour always carries a little extra excitement, and this was palpable for those early birds crowding the stage well before the show. Not only was I excited to see this band I’ve been worshipping for years, but also I was eager to use, over-use, and abuse a new star filter my brother got me for Christmas; cuz y’know what, I thought it fit the aesthetic of Video Age! Despite many photographers’ wishes, very few bands actually sonically sound like how a star filter looks, and even fewer bands can deliver a set worthy of five+ years anticipation within an opening set. So let’s see how they fared …

Spoiler alert: they kicked ass. Video Age’s functionally–perfect–10-song show opened with “Lover Surreal,” the first song I had ever heard by them, the kind of song that really perks up your ears and makes you wanna buy armfuls of merch. Glittery synths flutter over a galloping bassline, while frontman Ross Farbe’s gentle voice tells a love story certainly too good to be real. Folks, to this humble reporter’s ears, it’s simply pop perfection.

Next up was “Shadow on the Wall,” an absurdly groovy track from their somehow-even-more-’80s-inspired record Pleasure Line. Wobbly modded synths, walk down keys, and funky bass grooves round out a self-affirming reminder. If you think it’s repetitive, (Jeff Fox worthy voice) well, you just might be a shadow on the wall.

“Away From the Castle” came next, with a little more punk edge than found on the studio version: the guitar much more forward, the tempo a little faster, a little more garage-rock-y and loose. Such was the perfect dynamic for a simple song about disconnecting from the bullshit of the world. The catharsis of that huge chorus “Pull me back and let that slingshot set me freeeEEE!” really ripped. Three songs in, and I felt like David Copperfield levitating over a sold-out audience in Vegas.

Although some time researching on Setlist.fm had shown the New-Orleans quartet debuting new tracks live in concert the past couple months, no official names for songs have dropped to my knowledge. Next up were two new ones in a row! According to the printed setlist, first was “Who’s Winning,” which was quite pimp. I selfishly immediately got my phone out to record some of it so I could better describe the track in this review but being front and center blew out my phone’s microphone so it just sounds like XLKLCXXXXXRRRRRKKKK the whole time. Still kinda cool …

Ray, the band’s drummer sang lead vocals on their next new track, “She’s Moving On,” which, again, could have been the debut of this song for all I know! It was a rhythmic breakup song and Ray had a very nice singing voice, which sounded not-too-far-away from Mr. Farbe’s himself.

A quick note, I really appreciated the transitions between songs during this set. Often, Synth Wizard Duncan Troast would hold down some ambient chords or perhaps trigger strange little mini-songs while the rest of the band tuned, settled in, and got ready for the next song. Sometimes they were weird, sometimes chill, but I must say it provided a cool backdrop that kind of framed each song’s performance–not offering seamless passages, but rather, interesting moments that linked songs together. Time between songs can be a fickle thing, especially for an opener, and I thought this was a really cool way to bridge this space. 

After these new tracks, the lads brought down the BPMs a bit for Pop Therapy, a breezy psychological shuffle with a bass-slapping groove. It’s vintage. It’s glossy. It’s Prince-adjacent. How? I don’t know.

Next was Better Than Ever, a song so triumphant that it sounds like if a high-five came to life. If you want a solid introduction to Video Age, check out their video for this one, inspired by The Beatles’s Get Back documentary. Something about the simplicity of that high-pitched single note echoing out during the chorus underscores that cracking bassline and bouncing keyboard work in a way that makes me want to put on a windbreaker and star in a self-improvement montage.

Another side note, keyboard and bass players Duncan and Nick also have a different band together, The Convenience, which uses a lot of Video-Age adjacent textures with oftentimes a little more post-punk edge. I didn’t realize this until recently, and it was like adding DLC to the Video Age-iverse. I’m still kind of giddy about it. After spending some time in the studio with The Yugos recording their new album “SCONCHED,” I feel like these two bands’ styles would mesh perfectly (please tour together thank you.)

Soon thereafter, the band tackled “Hold On (I Was Wrong),” which may be their top hit, at least streaming-wise. The track featured a glistening juxtaposition of staccato rhythms and some very sleek guitar riffs. Then came “Record Shop,” their rootin’ tootin’ newest release, a one-off single about the simple pleasures of working at a record store just to get discounts on the merch. It’s playful, fun, and makes me want to go dig through crates at my local record store. What more can you ask?

To close out their set they performed “Aerostar,” which, quite simply put, is one of the catchiest songs I’ve ever heard. Country music and boomers have enough songs about cars, where’s the synth pop celebrating classic vehicles? (best I can think of is Buick by Automagik… actually … y’know what, maybe I need to make a playlist…). The modwheel-ed synth tones during the chorus truly scratch a part of my brain that isn’t often stimulated. The sidechained drum and bass provide such an irresistible structure to the song that by the time the titular Aerostar’s engine revs up in the final chorus, I’m punching air. I’m doing spin kicks. I’m doing the worm. 

The next thing I knew, the very lean, perhaps 35-minute opening set had flown by, without a moment wasted. I was left wondering how far I was willing to drive to see them next. Good God, I love this band and I want the world to know it.

As a final sidenote, I want to extend apologies to Ray, the drummer of Video Age, I was trying to get a solid pic of him and just couldn’t hit it with my lenses and the tom mic being so sensually nestled betwixt your crash and ride. So instead, here’s picture I took with him five years ago at Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans, when I was passing through there doing some video work on some tour. I bumrushed him while trying to get some beignets, excited to tell him how important the song “User Patterns” was to me and how I wanted my own music to evoke that precise feeling – only to stumble upon Esther Rose performing an intimate solo set in the cafe. Since then, she has recently collabed with Video Age to put out a chiller, more folkified version of the song “Away From the Castle” called “Out in the Country.”  Thank you for being patient with me. You didn’t have to but that meant a lot to me

HOVVDY

Opening their show, Charlie Martin proclaimed “It’s hard to follow a band like Video Age… so we stole some of their members!” at which point Duncan stepped up to a different, more keyboard-y setup stage right, and Nick came out on bass, as well as longtime Hovvdy collaborator, drummer Mark Edlin, to bolster the chief songwriting duo. 

Fan-favorite “Make Ya Proud” kicked off their set, complete with their signature down-home charm that makes the band work. Big (I’m assuming) open-tuning acoustic guitar chords laid out the structure for these songs of mundane life and profound love.

I feel that Hovvdy’s music is often written in somewhat singsong-y couplets, and these particular refrains seem literally engineered for getting drunk to and then singing around a campfire. Many people around me in the first couple rows certainly agreed, as Martin would often underline specific bars by just mouthing the words, the enthusiastic audience taking care of the rest. 

“Bubba” saw Charlie ditching the guitar and stepping over to a rack next to Duncan’s synth setup, which seemed to house some pitch-shifting controller. This ran an auto-tune effect while Edlin hit drum pads, triggering trap hi-hats rolls and other digital percussive elements.

Something distinctly down-to-earth about Hovvdy’s presentation of their music allows it to not veer into predictable territory, a dance that must be performed upon a fine line. “Blindsided” featured quite a few undeniable singsong moments, the knowing audience holding down vocal melodies.

“Big Blue” saw me wishing I had an uncle Tim, and asking myself why I didn’t call him more. I view this song as emblematic of Hovvdy’s bread and butter, using these specific, often familial, details to appeal to a sense of nostalgia.

I caught a block of Hovvdy’s set from the merch table, where I was trying to buy like 14 Video Age shirts, specifically one of a graceful swan cresting a wave in a lake, (“I’m laughing but the joke’s on me!”). Understandably, considering half their band was onstage, nobody was at merch, but Hovvdy’s merch guy wouldn’t sell me a Video Age shirt, even when I offered cash so sadly I went away empty-handed.

Another appeal I see of this band is their apparent wholesome treatment of their subject matter. For example, writing songs more specifically tethered to “family” than a lot of bands would make explicit (despite their frequent use of the G-D slur, {which I’m guessing they use because it is percussive and has a country cadence}). Fuck!!!

The emotional climax of Hovvdy’s show was “True Love.” Needless to say, this one saw the entire audience throwing arms around each other and swaying back and forth.

Thus wrapped two very different sets on an intriguing weeknight in Nashville. I am a huge fan of when bands that the mind would never group together split a bill. It makes for a dynamic concert experience and brings out a Venn Diagram of fans that may not overlap much, which is always cool to see.

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Video Age Setlist:

Lover Surreal
Shadow on the Wall
Away from the Castle
Who’s Winning (NEW SONG)
She’s Moving On (NEW SONG)
Better Than Ever
Pop Therapy
Hold On (I Was Wrong)
Record Shop
Aerostar

Hovvdy Setlist:

Make Ya Proud
Cathedral
Portrait
Jean
Big Blue
Bubba
Bad News
In My Head
Mr. Lee
I Never Wanna Make You Sad
Junior Day League
Clean
Forever
Blindsided
Tools
Meant
True Love
A Little