Parquet Courts at Brooklyn Steel

April 1, 2022

We saw Parquet Courts in November 2021 at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, about two-and-a-half years after they were scheduled to appear. Because, you know, Covid. They put on a great show, full of mosh pit favorites and new stuff from their quarantine-issued “Sympathy For Life”album. The crowd was jazzed, fired up, and it was my first trip back to The Pony in quite some time. In a word. we were ….grateful.

During Covid, I bough a “seat” to a Parquet Courts livestream concert. They played a good 30-minute set, but it was kind of bizarre watching the four guys in the band spread WAY out across a loft in Brooklyn while they played their songs. It was better than nothing, but there is nothing like Live, of course.

So, because we were so grateful for the great show they put on at The Stone Pony, we bought tickets and trekked up to Brooklyn Steel last night to see them play in their hometown. It seemed only fair, since they had come all that way to my turf in Asbury Park. And I figured they’d put on a great show in their home court, so to speak.

I was right, as usual. It was a terrific show. They played an entirely different set from the Stone Pony gig, which allowed me to hear some personal favorites like “Human Performance” and “Borrowed Time”, in addition to crowd-pleasers like “Walking at a Downtown Pace” and “Almost Had to Start a Fight”. There were even some great songs from ”Sympathy For Life”, and some good ballads. Something for everybody.

Of course, the crowd was heavily mosh-oriented. Kinda figured that, since it skewed pretty heavily to 20- and 30-something single guys guys looking to blow off steam on a Friday night. So there was some moshing going on, other than during the ballads. At one point somebody from behind pushed me for thirty yards like a dummy on a blocking sled into the middle of the Pit. I made up my own version of “Almost Had To Lose My Shoe” while being dragging in.

At one point, guitarist/keyboardist Austin Brown encouraged the crowd to “Be kind. Be patient.” But I think he was talking about something else.

Parquet Courts played a really tight set, and Brooklyn Steel is a great venue for them. (Although, so is the Stone Pony). My only disappointment was no “Stoned and Starving”, since we were so close to the Ridgewood, Queens featured in the lyrics. And if I got to pick their closing number, I’d have gone with “Captive of the Sun” because it’s so great. But those were pretty minor items in an otherwise terrific outing at Brooklyn Steel.

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