Advertising
You are not logged in

New York Magazine

Skip to content, or skip to search.

Skip to content, or skip to search.

Walkmen Excite Loins More Than Ears at Show

8/20/08 at 12:15 PM

Photo: Diana Sabreen

With their flat-front pants, rigid posture, and neat haircuts, the members of the Walkmen looked not unlike a band of i-bankers jamming on their lunch hour last night at Bowery Ballroom. Despite the hometown crowd, the strong reviews for their new album, You & Me, and it being their second sold-out show in as many nights, the mood wasn’t exactly celebratory. Respectful? Yes. Appreciative? Probably. But rock-show raucous? Definitely not. Front man Hamilton Leithauser gave it a valiant effort — we waited with anticipation to see if the continental map of sweat stains on his pressed button-down would meet in the middle, but alas, it was not to be. On their seldom played song “The Rat,” he even seemed to pointedly scream the lyrics: “Can’t you hear me? / I’m calling out your name.” But the audience stayed mellow. From our perch just to the left of the balcony bar, the crowd below looked like a sea of tranquilized bobbleheads, nodding politely in time to the music, feet planted firmly. Some, however, were connecting to something — if not to the songs, then at least to each other. Amid a parade of moony hand-holding couples filing out after the encore, we overheard a dude waxing nostalgic to his man-friend: “I once got to go home with a girl 'cause she told me I looked like the lead singer of the Walkmen.” Aw…
Advertising
Editors
Lane Brown and Mark Graham
Managing Editor
Jessica Coen
Articles Editor
Nick Catucci
Recent News