Sometimes a band with songs that have a particular power pop sound can be defined by the decade in which they broke out because they sound like every band from that era. And then some bands write songs that stand out, ones that shine in your memory like shiny pennies in a fountain because they’re just that good. The songs of The Connells, out of Raleigh, NC, proved their songs are the latter last week at Rams Head in Baltimore, MD.
The band doesn’t perform live much anymore, and when they do, they rarely play above the Mason Dixon line, so last Saturday’s show was a big deal. “We haven’t been here in a long time, and by here, I mean Baltimore. And I love Baltimore,” said lead singer Doug MacMillan. As the band isn’t touring behind a new record just now, they seemed to play what the band wanted, and more importantly, what they thought the audience would want to hear, which was fun.
The set list was heaviest with songs from 1993’s Ring, and then 1989’s Fun & Games, and 1987’s Boylan Heights. But three songs, “Burial Art,” “Stars,” and “Steadman’s Wake,” the last a live debut in Baltimore, are tracks on a new record by the band rumored to be coming in 2020, their first since in 19 years. MacMillan’s voice, like any instrument not used a bunch, took a bit to warm up. But by the time the band got to “Get a Gun” half way through the set, one could hear MacMillian’s full throttle vocal affectations of sweet and pissed off that make the song so good come out in full force, and his full range carried through every song for the rest of the show.
If you need any further proof The Connells still has a solid fan base in Baltimore? 1) A ladies bra was thrown up on stage towards the end of the show, and 2) a guy in the audience did the Axl Rose side-to-side shuffle to every single song, for the full song, for 16 straight songs. Maybe those are just “Forget it Jake, it’s Baltimore” types of things. Or maybe they were the result of a band whose songs were always so solid that they shimmer timeless, still resonating with fans all these years later. Based on the response from the Baltimore crowd on Saturday, I’m going with both as true.
