White Denim Deliver Soul & Reinvention In Most Unpredictable Places (SHOW REVIEW)

Since their early garage rock days in Austin, Texas, White Denim’s live show has been something to behold. White Denim songs take on a new life when played live, much in the spirit of a jamband. But, in reality, they aren’t jamming. No, these guys compose new sections within old songs and string together jaw-dropping medleys to create an experience altogether different from their albums. In person, White Denim are an air-tight rock band that plays like a runaway freight train, somehow avoiding derailment.

This much I knew heading into Philadelphia’s Union Transfer to see White Denim for the third time. It had been more than two years since I last saw the Texas quartet in that very same room. Since then, the band has undergone some personnel changes with Guitarist Austin Jenkins and drummer Josh Block parting ways with bassist Steve Terebecki and frontman James Petralli to pursue other projects, most notably with rising star Leon Bridges. Jenkins was replaced by Jonathan Horne, and Block by drummer Jeff Olson.

What I didn’t know about this new lineup – complete with the addition of keyboardist Mike St. Clair – was if they had the chops to keep the White Denim train rolling. The band’s latest album Stiff seemed to be a thematic continuation of 2013’s Corsicana Lemonade, but how would this new lineup carry the torch through a shape-shifting White Denim show? Within 10 minutes of the lights going down inside the intimate venue, I was sorry I even asked.

This new White Denim roared out of the gates with two Stiff tracks, “Real Deal Mama” and “Ha Ha Ha Ha (Yeah),” the latter aided by guitarist Sam Cohen, whose band opened the night about an hour prior. The band then launched into the first medley of the evening, seamlessly segueing “There’s A Brain In My Head” into “Thank You” and eventually into the jazzy “River To Consider.” If this was the first real test for the new guys, they aced the test. Behind the drum kit, Jeff Olson had no problem filling Josh Block’s cowboy boots, as the last note in “Thank You” became the first note in the tricky “River To Consider” polyrhythmic groove.

After a welcome cool-down in “Take It Easy (Ever After Lasting Love),” White Denim dusted off one of the night’s deep cuts with the weirdo-funk instrumental “Sex Prayer” off 2009’s Fits. The second big medley of the night followed, as the blistering “Holda You (I’m Psycho)” gave way to “Anvil Everything” off 2011’s D, and then the classic “I Start To Run.” It’s during these passages of gasoline-doused rock n’ roll, with Petralli straining every muscle in his body to belt the words, when you’re forced to wonder how a band like White Denim can even physically make it through a whole tour.

They would get a break with the ensuing “I’m The One (Big Big Fun),” with its lazy but tasty wah-wah vibes. The reprieve was short-lived however, as White Denim galloped back with “At Night In Dreams,” Jon Horne flailing on his six-string. The show’s second rarity, “No Real Reason,” off the 2011 Takes Place In Your Work Space EP swelled like a big brooding wave that eventually crashed on the shores of “Mirrored In Reverse.” This new song pays homage to the Fits cut of a similar name “Mirrored And Reverse,” as Terebecki plays a similar bassline. This is White Denim reinventing themselves as they have for years.

After the “Shake Shake Shake” finale, the band encored with a cover of “Peg,” the dancey number off Steely Dan’s timeless Aja.  It might have taken White Denim most of 2015 to iron out their personnel changes and get the train back on track. But on this 2016 Stiff tour, White Denim are showing that at the end of the night, when the house lights come back on and strangers look around the room at each other in awe, the band on stage is still White Denim.

SETLIST:

Real Deal Mama, Ha Ha Ha Ha (Yeah)*, There’s A Brain In My Head>Thank You>River To Consider>Space>It’s Him, Take It Easy (Ever After Lasting Love), Sex Prayer, Holda You (I’m Psycho)>Anvil Everything>I Start To Run, I’m The One (Big Big Fun), At Night In Dreams, Limited By Stature>I Can Tell You, Had 2 Know (Personal), No Real Reason, Mirrored In Reverse, Bess St.>Shake Shake Shake

 

E: Peg* (Steely Dan cover)

 

* = with Sam Cohen

 

 

 

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