There was a special feeling walking into the Violent Femmes show Monday night at the City Winery in New York City. The Femmes were on night two of a five-night run at the beautiful Chelsea venue, and walking in you could feel the buzz around a stage filled with countless instruments covered with cloth, only increasing fans’ anticipation.
New York City is a significant landmark for the Violent Femmes, who after being rejected by a local nightclub, set up outside of a Pretenders gig and began to play. Pretenders’ lead singer Chrissie Hynde heard and invited the Femmes to open for them that night and then again for their show in New York City. It was that show that a rave review from a New York Times writer helped launch their career and land them a record deal.
Now, the band is back in the city that helped launch their career but have had a legendary career that helped them land a five-night-stand at the beautiful Manhattan venue. The Femmes recently released a new album ‘Why Do Birds Sing,’ and fans got to hear songs from the new album as well as their platinum hits.
The band finally took the stage, and the cloths were listed from their covered instruments to reveal a nearly 12-foot standing saxophone, a xylophone, and a Barbeque grill as part of their drum kit. The Femmes took the stage and opened their set playing ‘Add It Up’ from their debut 1983 album with lead singer Gordon Gano singing the opening lines acapella, before the whole band joined him with their instruments in epic unison.
The song perfectly set the tone for the evening with the famously unorthodox style that the Femmes bring in their music and live performance. Everything that the Femmes do feels unlikely when it comes to the use of their instruments and lyrics. Talking to another fan before the show, the Violent Femmes were described as his favorite living band and that “hearing them for the first time, I didn’t know music could sound like that.” It was a perfect way to describe the unique sound the Femmes create. They do things the Femmes way, and it’s likely different for every live show you go to.
At Monday’s show, fans in attendance got to hear a song that likely hasn’t been in other Femmes shows. They announced to the crowd that they hail from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and that their home city is in the news recently due to the new and popular Jeffrey Dahmer documentary that is setting records as the biggest debut of a new series. Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie revealed that Dahmer had actually been to a few of the bands’ concerts. When they learned about Dahmer and his death, the band released a song, but only in Australia, titled ‘Dahmer’s Dead.’ A quick and witty song exclaiming the death of the serial killer. The Femmes played the song and it was oddly light-hearted for a song celebrating the death of a killer. If they were to re-release the song today, I imagine it would be an instant hit.
One of the things that stood out in the Femmes’ live performance was the sheer amount of instrumentation that was on display. Brian Ritchie was a marvel on bass, but he also played xylophone. John Sparrow played the a standing drums with drum brushes creating the Femmes sound. A shell shaped barbecue grill was used to create the symbol like sounds for the live performance which was the first time I have seen that. Sparrow would also rotate to a box platform that he would use to make drumming beats.
Gano played both the electric and acoustic guitar at times throughout the night. He then got a banjo and played what he called a ‘more airy’ version of their ‘Country Death Song.’ They followed that with ‘No Killing Paroles.’ Ritchie then asked Gano, “do you have anymore instruments you’re going to play?” That led Gano to hunt down a fiddle that he played with the strings as well as like a ukelele at times.
On fiddle, Gano played a bright version of ‘I Know It’s True, But I’m Sorry To Say.’ while Brian Ritchie played a killer solo on bass.
The Violent Femmes have a way of playing incredibly catchy songs with rather neurotic and darkly comical lyrics in a way that feels effortless. Gano is a small guy and stays pretty stationary in his performance but his iconic voice carries. As a band unit, it has a sound you won’t find anywhere else in a live performance. Part of what makes the show impossible to replicate is the fact that they have no set list, it is all improvised.
Ritchie told the crowd about the band’s shows being improvised and that fans would yell suggestions from the crowd, and the band will take a minute to consider if the song will make the set move into an abyss, ‘and if the answer is yes we play it!’ And that led the Femmes into the abyss of the highly-energetic ‘Dance Motherf*cker Dance.’ The whole show was a masterclass of creation. It was chaotic, but in the best way and a way that felt calculated.
If you get a chance to see the Femmes, don’t miss it. It is a night of art that you won’t soon forget.
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