Image by Chrissy Lush
The Breeders celebrate the Deal twins' birthday at NYC show
June 10, 2008, at Webster Hall
By Liz Schroeter
Published: June 12th, 2008 | 7:45pm
The Breeders don’t appear to care what you think. Kim Deal looks like she just ran out the door with hair still wet from the shower. Kelley Deal chews gum the whole show. They don’t ask in loud voices, “How you feelin’, New York City?” or “Are you ready to rock?!” They very well could ask those things. It’s a big room at Webster Hall, and after 20 years in a successful rock band, you can ask people if they are ready to rock. It’s perfectly appropriate.
Instead, the Deal sisters and their band mates just strolled on stage and mildly stated, “We’re the Breeders and we’re going to play a few songs for you.”
Now, before you take this observation to mean that the Breeders are apathetic or bored or just going through the motions, you have to see the smiles on their faces. The Breeders are having FUN. And if you were in the room that night, so were you. If you were the girl standing behind me, you shrieked a horror-movie scream when they played “Cannonball.” If you were the three sweaty dudes who shoved their way to the stage, you were spared the audience’s wrath because there’s just no getting angry when Kelley Deal is singing, “I Just Want to Get Along.” Everyone danced along to Amps favorites like “Pacer” while the massive ballroom dance floor bounced dangerously in time like a trampoline, and, of course, the little clouds of pot smoke rose up discreetly during more psychedelic numbers like “We’re Gonna Rise” off the band’s latest album Mountain Battles (4AD).
Several songs from Mountain Battles were performed throughout the night, including the rather odd “German Studies” and the acoustic waltz “Here No More” where the sisters’ nearly identical voices harmonize oh so nicely. It’s kind of fascinating to watch the twins perform live, to discover that songs where you thought it was Kim singing were actually Kelley, and vice versa. Kim, who usually sings lead vocals, stepped aside while Kelley sang “It’s the Love,” another off the band’s latest album. You could see Kim on the side of the stage, doubled over laughing at her sister between swigs of beer while Kelley made faces to herself when she fouled up the guitar solo. (You could also see Kim applauding her sis when Kelley nailed the solo on the second time through.)
The Breeders are no perfectionists. They laughed and stumbled their way through old songs like “Divine Hammer” and “Drivin on 9” (where violinist Carrie Bradley, who actually played that song on the 1993 album Last Splash, joined them on stage). One had to wonder if they even practice. Not that it mattered. Kim gave her all wailing out the words to “Iris” and Kelley’s sloppy shredding wasn’t spot-on but it was nonetheless performed all smiles. Proving that they were there to entertain themselves as much as the crowd, the Breeders did what few bands do live and performed more than a couple covers including fellow Ohioans Guided By Voices’ “Shocker in Gloomtown” and the Beatles’ “Happiness is a Warm Gun,” the latter of which can be found on their 1990 album Pod (Elektra).
The encore ended with “Saints,” a fitting song for this sweltering June evening. Kim sang the reprise, “Summer is ready when you are,” and then thanked the audience for making their birthday so fun. Before the twins could exit the stage, their band mates cornered them with a birthday cake and the whole audience sang “Happy Birthday” to the Deal sisters while Kim joyfully flicked us all off.
Issue #35
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