Nada Surf at Asbury Lanes — 7/29/22
Nada Surf was outstanding at Asbury Lanes last night.
I had last seen Nada Surf live (for the first time, despite their 30-year run as a band) in November 2021 at White Eagle Hall in Jersey City, after several cancellations and postponements over two and a half years during Covid lockdown. Front man Matthew Caws, ever gracious, led off that evening by saying “It’s so good to finally see everybody. Thanks so much for hanging on to your tickets all this time!” They played an awesome set, and I bought my ultra-cool light blue Nada Surf tee-shirt to add to my collection that night.
Last night, they played to a fanatically loyal fan base in Asbury Park NJ. Asbury Lanes is, yup, a bowling alley with half a dozen legit lanes, shoe rentals, and all. You can also get a burger and fries in their Diner, and adult beverges at the bar. And they put on some great shows. I’ve seen the Meat Puppets there, and more recently Waxahatchee and Madi Diaz, so they get a their share of old and new acts.
I thought I was a big fan, with my previous show and t-shirt on my resume, and I’ve been listening to Nada Surf since the 90’s, when they introduced their first album, High/Low, which I played into the ground. But last night, I was surrounded by couples who claimed to have seen Nada Surf live 20–25 times. So, maybe I’m not their biggest fan. And, while I’m still stuck in time with their first album, these other folks stayed with them, through their entire collection of nine albums, and knew all the words to all the songs that I never heard of.
The song that everybody knows by Nada Surf is “Popular”, which they played last night during their 5-song encore. For my money, it’s still their best song, and here it is:
https://open.spotify.com/track/48sJGpBLqQTs0sZ2ImHJof?si=04prF0zZSsKzhnuPit7hLQ
Back in November, the lead singer from opening act Pom-Pom Squad, Mia Berlin, joined the band to provide backing vocals. Pom-Pom Squad later recorded their own cover of the song, and Matthew Caws added his vocals to their rendition. Pretty cool, that Matthew Caws, helping out some up-and-comers.
Speaking of covers, Nada Surf played a great version of the Pixies’ monster song,”Where is My Mind?” during their 2-hour set, which was loaded with a great variety of their hits over their 30-year duration. And they were tight, looked a bit older, but still cranked out song after song to an energetic crowd full of geezers, youngsters, and everybody in between. No mosh pit, just some enthusiastic hopping around, swaying, and toe-tapping. Maybe that last one was me.
Here are some of my favorites from Nada Surf:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7kXCnw52764X9Oi1TtkUVy?si=7nNNpXhvR-OR18YwaoYJZw
The opening act, Hurry, came to play from Philadelphia. Their 40-minute set was way more lively than anything I heard from them on Spotify, and they had their own loyal following. Their style is what I would consider light rock, with front man Matt Scottoline providing some high-pitched vocals. Still, they sounded great, and here are a few of their cuts:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5L9SgtIFgyls8kRO48Qrtl?si=dMM6ByjwSyucMU2E6ebx4Q
They reminded me a bit of the band in the Tom Hanks movie, “That Thing You Do”, before drummer Tom Everett Scott upped their beat to propel them to superstardom. Hurry’s best number was a cover of The Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait”, which I thought was terrific.