Hamilton Leithauser of the Walkmen, at Neumo’s on Saturday. photo by peter

My past experiences with the Walkmen have been mixed — usually in the course of a single show. They usually start out with me forgetting how tall frontman Hamilton Leithauser is. This is generally followed by general enjoyment and appreciation of the band’s technical proficiency and rounded up by anticipation of at least one of the big hits from Bows + Arrows. Then, somewhere along the line, it gets late, I get tired or thirsty or worried about how much agony he seems to be in with the strained vaguely Dylanesque vocal pushed through clenched teeth and arched back and wonder if I, as an audience member, am really worth all of the onstage agony.

But this weekend at Neumo’s the show worked just exceedingly well for me, and the sold out crowd seemed to thoroughly agree. Part of it, I think was that the band brought along a brass quartet — a pair of trumpets and a pair of trombones (the new hip horn on the block, mark my words) — and the warm chorales really rounded things out, making the band’s more contemplative and relaxed tracks fuller, richer, and more textural. These, in turn provided a lot more breathing space for the higher intensity, straining rocking out portions. From almost start to finish I was happily soaking it in, singing along (“the Rat”, “What’s In It For Me”), and/or grinning at old songs pulled from the archives (“We’ve Been Had”), and joining the clapping and foot pounding requesting an encore.

(Some pictures from my photoset [flickr] and armed with drool-worthy lens Peter’s [flickr] after the jump. More pictures and tales of front row weepers — not me, I swear — at Three Imaginary Girls [tig])

I always thought of Beach House as music for arts and crafts, reading literary fiction in bed, or hosting candlelight dinner parties late at night; so I was surprised how well they translated to a live setting. Playing in near darkness, they managed to get at least a few people rocking custom dance moves for “the hits”.

photo by peter

The lights at Neumo’s were positively cavelike. I understand wanting to stay cool and inspired, but how about some real lighting for at least a song or two?

photo by peter

Leithauser in one of his patented leans:

photo by josh

The trombone duo:

photo by peter

Walter Martin, lurking in the background on acoustic duties, taking a break from the double keyboards up front:

photo by peter

Johnny and the Moon opened:

photo by josh

Dante DeCaro rocking simultaneous banjo & harmonica duties:

photo by josh