It is just amazing to me how popular The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have become. Not that they don't deserve it -- their debut is one of my favorites of the year -- it's just that, as a longtime lover of this sort of music, there's one thing I'd come to accept. It's not the kind of stuff that ever gets popular. Or hasn't before. A year ago, they were playing Cake Shop and the Dead Herring apartment, and that seemed about right for their brand of indie pop, influenced by the Pastels, Black Tambourine, The Wedding Present and Beat Happening. These guys had great songs, but history showed bands like this just wouldn't get much bigger.
Fast-forward a year later and the Pains are headlining a show at the Seaport and it's as packed as I've ever seen it, rivalling that Animal Collective show two years ago. The weather is perfect mind you, but people are there to see them. And they just sound amazing -- the songs roar, the band is tight, you can actually hear Peggy's keyboards and Kip has become a confident singer. Ripping through their set with nary a word in between songs, the crowd bobs and everyone's smiling. The band is smiling too. They are having fun. The new songs are good. While I can't see them ever dethroning Linkin Park or The Black Eyed Peas from the Billboard charts, tonight, the Pains make it seem like anything's possible.
MP3: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Hey Paul (buy the album from Insound / Emusic)
Tour dates and a few more pictures after the jump.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart 2009 Tour Dates
7/18 - Chicago, IL - Union Park - Pitchfork Music Festival
7/20 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo % (All Ages) %
7/21 - San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop (All Ages) % - tickets
7/23 - Portland, OR - Backspace (All Ages) % - tickets
7/24 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret (19+) % - tickets
7/25 - Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party
7/30 - Nr Porto, Portugal - Paredes De Coura Festival
7/31 - Stockholm, Sweden - Strand
8/01 - Emmaboda, Sweden - Emmaboda Festival
8/02 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega
8/04 - London, UK - The Garage - tickets
8/05 - Rotterdam, Holland - Rotown
8/06 - Leipzing, Germany - Pop up Sound Convention - NATO
8/07 - Myslowice, Poland - OFF Festival
9/05 - Cambridge, MA - The Middle East (18+)#^
9/06 - Montreal, QC - La Sala Rossa (All Ages) #^
9/07 - Toronto, ONT - The Legendary Horsehoe Tavern (All Ages)#^
9/08 - Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium (All Ages)#^
9/09 - Madison, WI - Orpheum Stage Door (All Ages)#^
9/10 - Omaha, NE - Slowdown (All Ages)#^
9/12 - Morrison, CO - Monolith Festival (All Ages)
9/13 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court (All Ages)#^
9/14 - Boise, ID - Neurolux (21+)#^
9/17 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir (21+)#^
9/21 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah (21+)#^
9/22 - Tucson, AZ - Club Congress (All Ages)#^
9/24 - Fort Worth, TX - Lola’s (All Ages)#^
9/25 - Austin, TX - Mohawk (All Ages)#^
9/26 - New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks (18+) #^
9/27 - Tallahassee, FL - Club Down Under/FSU (18+)#^
9/28 - Atlanta, GA - Earl (18+)#^
9/29 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 (18+)#^
9/30 - Washington, DC - Black Cat (All Ages)#^
10/01 - Baltimore, MD - The Ottobar (All Ages)#^
10/03 - New York, NY - Webster Hall#^ - tickets
10/05 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church (All Ages)#^
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