The War On Drugs @ 9:30 Club - 4/18/14
Photo by Richie Downs www.richiedowns.com
If we’re talking Rock ‘n’ Fucking Roll, one really shouldn’t complain that Philadelphia’s The War On Drugs delivered an almost two and a half hour set Friday night at the 9:30 Club. That’s the stuff of Springsteen-ian legend that people look back on years later and say, “I was there, man. I. Was. There.” And, in fact, the megalith of a show that Adam Granduciel and his cohorts delivered was an embarrassment of riches that showcased every era of the band; a crash course in how they got from there to this year’s unmitigated masterpiece, Lost in the Dream.
But man, was it some kind of awesome endurance test.
The War On Drugs Adam Granduciel weaving a dream at their SOLD OUT 9:30 Club show
Photo by Richie Downs www.richiedowns.com
The set proper was book-ended by Dream’s “Under the Pressure” and “In Reverse,” a move that seemed appropriate given what would come between the two. Besides being the band’s best album to date, Lost in the Dream is also the logical culmination of everything that came before it for them. The winding river of The War On Drugs history that the set list took could not have made that fact any clearer.
Plucking the best tracks from 2011’s Slave Ambient (“Baby Missles,” “Best Night,” “Come To The City”) and 2008’s Wagon Wheel Blues (“Arms Like Boulders,” an encore appearance of “Buenos Aires Beach”), and jamming on them HARD between the more focused tracks off Dream, it became apparent early on that this set intended to educate and reward fans both new and old. That it was a celebration was also apparent. In two short years, The War On Drugs has come from barely filling the now defunct Red Palace to completely selling out the 9:30 Club - a fact clearly not lost on Granduciel, who commented multiple times between songs how much he “fucking loves this room.”
And so, fueled by Granduciel’s formidable shred-worthy guitar jams and a constant barrage of cathartic, bro-tastic ragers, the show wandered long into the night in a way that only the best experiences can. Never mind that by the time the encore came, a quarter of the room had already filtered out into the streets in front of 9:30 Club. For the rest - those temporarily lost in Granduciel’s dream - the fuse lit by the nitrous-hit drums that kick-off “Under The Pressure” finally sizzled to a close with a cover of John Lennon’s “Mind Games,” leaving exhausted fans satisfied and stunned with minds ever-so-slightly blown.
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