Last Saturday I had the pleasure of seeing Cold War Kids at The Fillmore. The opening act, Alec Ounsworth (of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! ) played a high energy set with a healthy balance of experimental sounds and acoustic ballads, dominating the stage while the majority of the sold out crowd lit up things other than cigarettes. His set as a solo artist if far different yet fairly similar to Clap Your Hands, and was a great way to start the night, despite the music snobberies I hear from people behind me.
The venue began to fill in as Cold War Kids hit the stage, the crowd being a little less than moderately enthused, probably because they were higher than the chandeliers that hung from the historic ceiling. Starting their set off with older tracks “I’ve Seen Enough” and “Hair Down” it wasn’t until the soul indie band broke into “Audience”, the opening track of their recently released Behave Yourself EP did the full experience set in.
The band performed the melodic track dripped in falsetto, with a nonchalant California cool, that only they could properly pull off. The band continued to play a well balanced set between soulful and loud, performing all the tracks off the new EP as well as songs from Loyalty to Loyalty (Downtown, Mercury) and Robbers & Cowards (Downtown, V2).
Once the drowsy wore off, and the booze seeped in, the crowd erupted in a slurry sing along of 2006’s mega hit “Hang Me Up to Dry”. The audience kept up their energy while the band played “Santa Ana Winds” a new song that pays homage to their southern californian roots. Following this, they went into “Golden Gate Jumpers” and well, let’s face it – there’s nothing San Franciscans love more than a song about San Francisco, even if it is about suicide. Continuing on with the Bay Area praise, the band struck gold with a chilling cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Long as I can See the Light” and commenting on the venue.
It took a short few minutes after the last song, “Something is not Right with Me” before Cold War Kids re-emerged before the stage, with a short swoon worthy “Yeah, we can play some more” before performing three additional songs, ending with “We Used to Vacation.”
While waiting for a cab after the show, I overheard a girl in ripped tights breaking open a fresh pack of Lucky Strikes tell her friend she wanted to see the show over and over again, I couldn’t agree more with her.
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