Cloud Nothings at Music Hall of Williamsburg 11/16/22
File this under “Better Late Than Never”.
Credit Spotify for introducing me to Cloud Nothings. Over the summer and into the fall, I kept hearing their anthem “Wasted Days” when it showed up in several free-fall playlists. Those Spotify people are so smart. Of course, I loved the song, and you may too.
I found a couple others, Hey Cool Kid and Cut You to add to my collection.
At the Music Hall of Williamsburg, I saw a poster (for real!) announcing an upcoming Cloud Nothings show, so I jumped on it. It’s funny — with all of the emails, concert apps, mega event monsters like Ticketmaster and LiveNation, sometimes good old hard copy or word of mouth gets you to show up.
I’d been looking forward to this one for months, despite my lack of knowledge other than three cool songs. They lit the place up. They were celebrating the 10th anniversary of their album, Attack On Memory, which they played end to end. It’s a solid album, check it out. It includes Wasted Days, Cut You, and Stay Useless, and is hard-driving punk. Wasted Days shows up on my playlists with DIIV, Parquet Courts, and Deerhunter’s “Desire Lines”, if that helps any.
Front man Dylan Baldi is from Cleveland Ohio, where the band was formed. He’s got an easy-going personality, very laid-back but totally shreds his guitar. Jayson Gerycz was absolutely vicious on the drums. The group is rounded out with Chris Brown on guitar and keyboards, and Noah Depew on bass.
BTW, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is also housed in Cleveland. Go ahead and try to name another band from there. I dare you.
After playing the eight tracks from “Wasted Days”, Cloud Nothings ripped another nine songs. Dylan Baldi apologized for not playing even more, “Sorry, but we only had time to practice these ones.” But they had played plenty, and it was an awesome show with what they had.
They were fucking loud, with no apologies. You can hear short pieces of their performance here.
There were two warm-up acts, Rosali and Speedy Ortiz.
Rosali Middleman, from Philadelphia, was backed by three members of the Omaha-based David Nance Group. They had a comfortable, country-rock feel, in the Zac Brown style, with a more emotional flavor. I liked their sound a lot. Here’s a short clip to give you a flavor. They reminded me of Annabelle Chairlegs, an Austin local favorite.
Speedy Ortiz is a band from Massachusetts, fronted by singer/guitarist Sadie Dupuis, a little pixie with a short red dress, a wise-ass attitude, and quick fingers on the guitar. Speaking of Pixies, their sound borrowed a fair bit of melody, lyric style, and overall sound from Frank Black and his Boston crew. They were fun.
Plenty of music, a variety of styles, and a night well spent at Music Hall of Williamsburg.