The War on Drugs - Various Radio Broadcasts

Anyone that was around in November will already have heard (many times) about how much I love the War on Drugs. Their set at Harvest was pretty good, although an early set is always tough and the audience wasn't particularly enthusiastic. Their show at the Northcote Social Club, on the other hand, was phenomenal. It's probably the only show I've been to where I've felt desperate to hear them keep playing. Since then they don't seem to have played any shows, so hopefully they've taken a breather and are back in the studio. To keep me going I've been listening to some radio sessions as well as some live shows (more on that in another post).

The first radio session is particularly interesting for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there aren't many recordings from the band's early days, so even a short festival set broadcast over the radio is exciting. Secondly, to the best of my knowledge, this is the only recorded performance of Pushing Corn off their EP Barrel of Batteries. That's kind of exciting for fans, but more importantly, the song is actually really good, so getting to hear it has more than just rarity value. It's also interesting to hear how the sound has changed - in particular, how much more prominent the organ is (perhaps partly through a change of personnel).

Second up, another very early set, including a few songs that don't feature in the other sets. In particular, there's a great version of A Needle in Your Eye #16. They usually play a very long version of this to end their shows, the version they played in Melbourne was phenomenal, but I've heard others that aren't as interesting. This version is absolutely phenomenal. Around halfway through the song they break into a woozy ambient section, but then bring it back up again for the ending.

The World Cafe set is only three songs, two from Slave Ambient and one from Wagonwheel Blues (the magnificent Arms Like Boulders).

Finally, another KEXP in studio performance. This one includes the one-two of The Animator and Come to the City. In other good news, they recently posted an update suggesting a new album might not be too far away, I'm looking forward to it.

Philadelphia - 11 July 2008

Arms Like Boulders
Buenos Aires Beach
Pushing Corn
Show Me the Coast
Taking the Farm

KEXP - 18 April 2009

Buenos Aires Beach
Arms Like Boulders
Your Love is Calling My Name
Interview
Show Me the Coast
A Needle in Your Eye #16

World Cafe - 21 September 2011

Best Night
Baby Missiles
Arms Like Boulders

KEXP - 26 October 2011

Best Night
Interview
The Animator
Come to the City