I made the drive down to Boston yesterday to see Mates of State, who put on the best show I’ve seen in quite a while. They’ve got one of my favorite albums of the year (Bring It Back), a super-cute backstory, and enough excitement to power a small city for several months.
In an hour and a half they managed to play basically every song of theirs that I love, and did a mighty fine job of it. Highlights included rousing rendition of “Fraud in the 80s” and “For the Actor,” an extended “Like U Crazy” with an interlude for the chorus of “Crazy,” and harmonies galore.
Probably my favorite thing about Mates of State is the codas to their songs, extended outros on the same theme with vocal and instrumental variations, especially when they’re singing two different refrains from the song simultaneously. It’s the kind of thing you can’t be sure will translate well to a live show, but they did a fantastic job with it on songs like “Think Long,” “Punchlines,” and “Running Out.”
Really the only negative I can give is that their rendition of “Beautiful Dreamer” (my favorite song from the new record) felt a little flat. Not bad, but it certainly didn’t live up to the album-version like the rest of the show.
The biggest highlight was “Goods” which is my favorite song by them and which they did a great job with. I managed to get a video of it, though since my camera isn’t the best it’s pretty blurry and the sound isn’t great. But if you’re interested…
They’ve got a bunch more shows coming up, and I highly recommend seeing them if you get the chance.