alt-J’s debut album, An Awesome Wave, was released 10 years ago. 10 YEARS AGO?! I feel like an old man saying I can’t believe it’s been that long already. I was working at Hayman Studio when it came out and Ryan and I listened to it seemingly nonstop for months. It was and is one of my favorite albums.
At the time, the album received mixed reviews. Some critics, like The Guardian, declared it one of their Top-10 Albums of the Year. Others, like Pitchfork, cried, “if this is what’s getting tagged as an “innovative” success these days, then heaven help the weirdos.” Maybe they just didn’t get it.
alt-J is currently touring in celebration of the 10 year anniversary of An Awesome Wave, and recently made a stop in Baltimore to play a sold out Rams Head Live. The lines were long and photo passes weren’t released until the supporting artist, June McDoom was nearly done with her set. By the time I fought through the crowd to the photo pit, she was thanking the crowd and leaving the stage.
Not long after alt-J took the stage and keyboardist, Gus Unger, softly began the repeating two notes intro to “Intro” followed by frontman and guitarist Joe Newman’s quick riff on electric guitar and then Thom Sonny’s kick drum and hi-hat and the show was off and running.
For the next 50 minutes An Awesome Wave was played front to back with barely any banter in between songs. It was like I was at home with 1,500 close friends listening to the album. With a much better sound system.
Normally, when bands play a live show and everything sounds just like the album, it annoys me. Ask anyone that knows me and they”ll probably tell you that I am easily annoyed. They are probably right. However, on this night, celebrating this album, I would’ve been annoyed if it didn’t sound like the recording. I guess my friends really do know me.
The set was finished with “Chicago,” “Deadcrush,” “U&ME,” “The Gospel of John Hurt,” “Every Other Freckle,” and “In Cold Blood.” The trio then took their quick break before returning for the encore. If you’ve read any of my other posts, you know how I feel about encores. They busted out “Hard Drive Gold” and their most popular song that wasn’t on An Awesome Wave, “Left Hand Free.”
Sometimes when you see a band, you can immediately tell that they have tired of playing certain songs from earlier in their catalog. Not so with alt-J. After 10 years, this album still sounds fresh to me, and it is very obvious that they still love playing these songs.
