Hamilton Leithauser attacking a high note Photo courtesy of The BM Rant

Review by Dave Anastasi

We decided to keep ourselves occupied at the bar while the opening two acts tried to warm up the audience. Maybe we're getting too old to be rubbing shoulders with fellow concert-goers for 3 hours... or maybe we were just saving our ears for the auditory onslaught that would soon follow. The Walkmen stepped on to the stage and we stepped off of our bar stools, and headed to the floor.

WHEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! What the hell is that??? 95% of the audience immediately recognized it as the opening organ chord to All The Hands And The Cook. I recognized it as the necessitation to locate the tiny wads of toilet paper I had earlier dropped into my pocket (left my proper earplugs at home). OK, that's somewhat better... having stuffed my ears adequately, I could turn my attention to the main event.

Watching these guys play is quite an experience. They are one of the hardest-working bands I've ever seen live. Matt Barrick mercilessly beats his drums with a tenacity a-la Keith Moon. Keyboardist/bassist Peter Bauer left it all on the stage that night, including a rather impressive puddle of sweat at his feet. And as for lead singer Hamilton Leithauser, I don't know how the veins in his neck survive the abuse. It's almost as if he orders the sound guy to turn the microphone down, just to make the deed of producing the loudest noise in the room all the more challenging.

Yep, The Walkmen certainly are fun to watch. Unfortunately, they weren't nearly as fun to listen to. This was the loudest show I've ever been to, and the band just refused to relent. My tired ears were crying for a ballad, but it never came.

So what do they sound like? Try to imagine a combination of U2, Bob Dylan, and the Velvet Underground. Got it? Good. Now turn the volume up. Waaaaay up. That's what they sound like. The highlights of the evening for me were the anthemic Lost In Boston and mariachi-infused Louisiana.

The problem was that the noise level made it nearly impossible for me to distinguish one note from the next and one word from the next. For seasoned fans of the group, this isn't really a big deal. They can sing along and have a good time. They can connect the dots because they know all the lines. But, to my untrained ear, it just sounded like mush.

Maybe I'll pick a Walkmen album one of these days. I'll likely enjoy them a lot more with the volume knob under my control.