Versus
Mercury Lounge, New York (March 26, 1999)
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Versus
Mercury Lounge, New York
March 26, 1999 |
Currently an indie rock free agent after parting ways with Caroline Records, the band wrapped up a short tour in support of the new Afterglow EP (Merge) Sat. Mar. 27, with a two-show evening in its home city. "Welcome to the slightly more drunken part of the evening," singer/guitarist Richard Baluyut announced at the start of the late show, but he and his bandmates were consistently sharp throughout the 15-song, 80-minute set.
The show got off on the right foot with the slow-burning "Crazy Maker," a wall-of-sound love song with a rock-out finish. "Off The Hook," one of Afterglow's five tracks, was next. Over a contemplative vocal melody and her own chill-inducing bass line, Toups made tangible the inner uncertainties of love and, well, life in general. Toups proved a bit hard to hear over the sonic roar of the some of the louder songs, but shone through on the gorgeous "Never Be O.K.," which should be a mandatory inclusion on all future break-up mix tapes.
Versus indulged the appreciative audience with a number of older songs, including "Thera" from 1994's The Stars Are Insane, "Astronaut" and raw rocker "Let's Electrify!," from its 1993 debut EP. Songs from the last two albums were just as great, including the tense "Double Suicide (Mercy Killing)" and "Dumb Fun," a great slice of vocal interplay between Toups and Baluyut. Sleater-Kinney's Janet Weiss hopped onstage to play tambourine on "Crush The Afterglow," completing a busy weekend that saw her singing backup for Elliott Smith the night before and opening for Versus as a member of Quasi earlier in the evening.
A three-song encore, highlighted by "Let's Electrify!," was a pleasant surprise. And as extra fun for the hometown gathering, some fellow took over "lead" vocals during an impromptu jam and proceeded to growl loudly, knock over the drum set and tackle second guitarist James Baluyut. Although the band doesn't play New York much these days, I'll still take Versus' drunkenly sincere antics over most anybody else's in the indie rock battle royal.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"