Junior Boys @ The Middle East 5/8/09

Having been a fan of Junior Boys since their tremendous sophomore album So This is Goodbye, I was pretty excited for the show, although not without a few reservations. At the apex of my interest in Junior Boys, In the Morning was perhaps my favorite song and I played it constantly. Around the same time, in the Fall of 2006, while studying History in London I was lucky enough to catch Junior Boys in concert. Awesome. Needless to say I was very excited and unfortunately the show failed to fulfill my lofty expectations. First off, the place was the back room of a pretty swanky bar and while the sound was great, Junior Boys never really seemed to amp it up to the next level. From what I remember, they spent most of the show focusing on their slower grooves and the crowd was fairly weak and lacking energy.

Just for frame of reference, that past show is the reason for some of the doubts running through my head on Friday night. With the help of a hyperactive opening set by Londoner Max Tundra and the close confines of the Middle East, all my fears were quickly assuaged by the time Junior Boys took the stage. Leading off with some of their more high powered tracks, Hazel, Double Shadow and The Equalizer to really get the crowd moving. It was a great crowd, everybody dancing, especially when Jeremy Greenspan whipped out his guitar to add a little more live instrumentation to the mix. With three LPs at their disposal Junior Boys had a wide range of tracks to chose from during their hour plus set. And chose well they did, with tracks ranging from minor hits from Last Exit like Birthday and More than Real to the major singles like In the Morning (ballin as usual) and Parallel Lines. From jokes about his shirt and razor sharp synths, Jeremy Greenspan and co. had the crowd roaring.

At times though, especially during the final third, the show began to lag as Junior Boys got bogged down in their slower, gloomier, Depeche-Modier if you will tracks, but all in all the crowd stayed into it for the entire hour plus set. Capping off the sweaty night was In the Morning, which I personally was dying to hear, followed by an awesomely unexpected encore of Under the Sun. A swirling, atmospheric track, Junior Boys jammed out on Under the Sun to create a massive meandering, pulsating groove in closing out the night. Besides the great musical performance, Junior Boys were genuinely happy to be playing to a packed house and definitely showed it, especially after their recent technical difficulties in New York. It is pretty crazy how similar Junior Boys sound to Depeche Mode when they really emphasize Greenspan's melodically detached voice coupled with cavernous, reverberating synths. It is very refreshing to have your love of a band renewed by a great live show. Cheers.

Junior Boys - Hazel (Ewan House Mix) (YSI) (filesavr)
Junior Boys - The Equalizer (YSI) (filesavr)
Junior Boys - Under the Sun (YSI) (filesavr)