I Shot the Band - Parquet Courts at 529

I've been pretty pumped for this show since discovering and downloading their latest record, Light Up Gold a month back, and I was hoping to run a quick podcast interview with the band before the show, so I was at the club early and ready to rock.

Memorial Day Monday afternoon traffic seemed to have other things in store for the band however, and when show time came and went it was pretty clear the band was in the middle of it.

About 30 minutes late the guys rolled in and quickly set up. 15 minutes later, and with a quick "thanks for waiting," these guys blasted off into a pummeling, and angular 35 minute set that had the capacity crowd bouncing, at times shoving, and singing along to the band's take on that classic New York sound. Something that hit me about the band live, which hadn't occurred to me upon repeated listens of the record is how much they were really imbibed that twin-guitar, wall-of-sound. The guitar interplay reminded me of bands as diverse as the Strokes, Steve Wynn and the Miracle Three, Television, and even at times Superchunk.

Borrowed Time and Stoned and Starving were justifiably crowd favorites, but tunes like Light up Gold II and Master of My Craft were caustic scorchers with the crowd kicking back the answer to "A minute of your time?" "Forget about it!"

Parquet Courts Home Page

Light Up Gold on Bandcamp 

Gear: Nikon D90, 50mm f/1.8, and being tall never hurts.

John McNicholas Photography