 | | Josh Pyke |
All 38 of us had business class tickets to a confident performance that exemplified the art of singer-songwriting. Well crafted tracks with lyrics and tunes that cut diamond deep into the eerie silence of a lonely venue. We journeyed on to Austin, Texas, where five fiery and enthusiastic young boys spun us out with shouting, jumping and general exuberant energy. Sound Team cheerfully demanded and commanded our attention with an untamed performance drawing influences from Arcade Fire and Velvet Underground. A worthy prequel for one of the coolest bands on the planet. Final destination New York, where The Walkmen crashed into us with all the subtlety of a juggernaut into a greenhouse. Riding high on a brilliant new album which introduces some lighter shades into the general misery, pain and anger of the previous one, The Walkmen hit the ground running with All Hands And The Cook.  | | The Walkmen |
Other supreme highlights included Lost In Boston, with its fantastic bass line picked out by the understatedly overworked Pete Bauer. The band surpassed themselves with the taut and the down tempo Another One Goes By and, of course, The Rat, where Hamilton Leithauser expresses anger and indignance with such force, he does it for us all by proxy. The Walkmen’s brilliantly intense performance is not necessarily one to enjoy as much as endure with awe. Multi tasking organist/bass/percussion team Walter Martin and Bauer swap instruments at a pace that turns them into human fountains, while Leithauser’s unmistakable gravelly shout (he can also do screaming) is compelling and impassioned, yet delivering tunes with veins standing a foot out from his neck must surely have internal implications and a sell by date. Arriving shell-shocked back in planet Manchester, we staggered through the terminal thankful that this had been an exclusive trip for the discerning musical traveller. We’d been sightseers to a night of talent that bargain basement consumers of music from the mainstream had missed out on big time. | 
