[photo by Mark Hervey]
So yeah, its the Summer of 1986. About a month after I attended that legendary Replacements show about which I’ve written on this site, another one of the great 1980s Minneapolis bands played the Ritz. The Suburbs did not have the exposure of MN bands like Husker Du and The Replacements, but they were on Twin/Tone for five years or so before moving onto a major label. Love Is The Law was their first major album and it was a college radio staple for a couple of years. By the time they appeared at the Ritz in ’86 as the second of three bands opening for the Australian band The Church, the Suburbs had been together for eight years and released 4 albums and 2 EPs of their quirky glam new-wavish blue-eyed soul. And I had every single one of them on vinyl. I recall the set that night was all familiar material and since the band traveled with a horn section, the finale was “Love Is The Law”. I didn’t even stay for the “headliner”. But little did I realize on that warm summer night that it wouldn’t be for another 27 years before the Suburbs would play New York again. The band broke up in 1987 and although they’ve played multiple reunion shows over the years, all of the shows have been in Minnesota. But fate has a funny way of intervening and when the Minnesota marriage equality movement adopted “Love Is The Law” as their theme song and the Minnesota legislature legalized marriage for all, the Suburbs performed the song on the steps of the Capital with the Governor on guitar. The increased exposure seemed to give the band momentum to finish recording some new songs, and after a successful Kickstarter, the Suburbs’s first album of new material in nearly 30 years was born. If Si Sauvage is an historically unlikely album, its a remarkably good one. The Suburbs always had a quirky edge that has perhaps softened a bit, but the songcraft (and sense of humor) are as strong as ever. On Friday night the band returned to NYC and although it wasn’t 1986 all over again, the Suburbs delivered a tight one-hour set mixed between the new album and old classics. Of the older material, “Music for Boys” from 1981’s Credit in Heaven was a near perfect version and we’re streaming it below. But like the Ritz all those years ago, it was “Love Is The Law” to close the set. I suspect it won’t be another 3 decades before I see the Suburbs again.
I recorded this set with the Sennheiser cards mounted in front of the soundboard and mixed with a soundboard feed. The crowd is a little rowdy and you can hear that even in the mixdown, but overall the sound quality of this recording is superb. Enjoy!
Stream “Music For Boys”:
Download the Complete Show [MP3] / [FLAC]
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Suburbs
2013-09-27
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA
Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix
Soundboard + Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, set fades, downsample) > CDWave 1.95 > (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and Tagging via Foobar)
Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2013-09-28
Setlist:
[Total Time 54:41]
01 Born Under A Good Sign
02 Waiting
03 Reset The Party
04 Music For Boys
05 Dumbass Kids
06 Dish It Up
07 What’s It Like Out There
08 Turn The Radio On
09 Life Is Like
10 Rattle My Bones
11 Cows
12 [banter – cowbell]
13 Si Sauvage
14 Love Is The Law
If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT The Suburbs, visit their website, and purchase Si Sauvage directly from their site [HERE].
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