The Walkmen - 6/3/06 - 400 Bar

Seeing anyone of my beloved bands at the 400 Bar (capacity of maybe 200) always excites me. So you can guess how much I was anticipating seeing the Walkmen, fresh of the release of their new album A Hundred Miles Off. Opening were Sybris and The Mazarin. I had not done any research on the first two bands so we were not in a hurry to get to the show. We missed Sybris and got there just in time to see the Mazarin. They were amped up and probably blew a few eardrums in the crowd. Straight up guitar rock/jam reminicent of Built to Spill. All of the vocals were drowned out, but discernable enough to tell the singer was attempting to channel Doug Matsch. After a thankfully brief 8 song set, the band left the stage and made way for the band everyone was there to see. A fairly short set change ensued and then Hamilton and co. took the stage. As I am not yet known on all of the new songs, I wasn't able to point out which songs were which, but they were all recognizable. They opened with All the Hands and the Cook from the new album. Throughout the set, they sprinkled some older favorites in such as Little House of Savages, Wake Up, Thinking of a Dream I Had, and the Freebird of all Walkmen Songs - The Rat. One girl even had the stones to yell out "Play The Rat again!" afterwards. Part of me didn't want them to play it just so the posers would be disappointed. Most of the set consisted of newer songs, however such as Lost in Boston and one of my favorites of the night Louisiana. They guys came back on stage twice for two encores to honor the cheers. We stopped by the merch table afterwards to see two of the members selling their own merch! Very honorable. We asked them about their shortened Lollapalooza set from the previous summer and snagged some stickers and a patch. Great night, great show, and my ears are still ringing!