Photos by Carrie Zukoski
It's hard to know just who was the biggest fan at the New Politics show at the Ready Room this past Friday. Was it the young woman who stood in line in the rain for four hours before the doors opened? The 10-year-old girl who's now seen them play live four times? The sisters from Springfield, Illinois, who've now seen them play eight times, and met them years ago at ComicCon in California? Or the countless others dancing and swaying to the magic of this Danish band that started in 2009? They're definitely all superfans in their own right.
Even though fans (and superfine) were here to see New Politics, openers The Wrecks clearly gained several new fans by the end of their energetic 30-minute set; in that short time, its melodic, Beastie Boys-esque spoken word had the crowd waving its hands in the air in unison. Next up: The Dreamers. They started with a Cranberries cover, then accelerated from dreamy to hardcore as the night moved on.
Then—finally! New Politics, who are out on the road for their Lost in Translation Tour. At one point, lead singer David Boyd told the audience that it was "the loudest crowd so far on this tour" (which only made people louder, right?). Often the first three songs in a set are tame. Not in this case. The band was here to entertain, and it would have been the same if there had been 12 or 12,000 people in the venue. (As it was, it was a couple hundred...it should have been more, we think. If you missed this show, we are so sorry...) The energy level was off the charts from the word go. Seriously: when does the lead singer crowd surf during the first song? It happened. And the energy didn't lag; Boyd continued his acrobatic antics throughout the night, springing handstands, or taking his phone out and filming the crowd. "I don't think you guys know how much we love you," he told them. "We have the wildest nights in St. Louis! Thank you." Perhaps it was feeling that love; perhaps that constant energy it just what marks a New Politics gig. What we can affirm, either way, is that they played their hearts out the entire set—and the people present for this show will remember it forever. Which is why they'll be in the front row the next time New Politics plays St. Louis.
The Wrecks
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The Dreamers
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New Politics
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