Review – The Walkmen w/ Almost Nothing Live At SWX, Bristol

SWX, 27th August 2023

The Walkmen return to Bristol 12 years after their last gig. In the interim, the band took an extended hiatus that lasted 10 years. During the break the band focused on their own projects, frontman Hamilton Leithauser released four solo albums, drummer Matt Barrick joined forces with fellow NYC scene member Paul Banks from Interpol in supergroup Muzz, guitarist Paul Maroon soundtracked an award-winning Documentary and Walter Martin and Peter Bauer dabbled in their own solo projects.

Opening the show is Almost Nothing, a new creation from Idlewild’s Roddy Woomble. Whilst the upcoming album due to be released features four different producers, the Bristol set is a stripped-down affair with just Roddy and Andrew Wasylyk which moves away from the indie- rock sound Woomble is most known for and focuses on a more minimal electronic sound with Woomble’s incredible vocals taking the forefront.

For the main event, no one had expected The Walkmen to return until they made the announcement in 2022 that they would be playing a small selection of reunion shows in America. The band enjoyed the shows so much that they extended the tour turning it into the “Revenge” tour which tonight rolled through Bristol.

Despite this time away, it’s clear from tonight’s show that this isn’t a reunion tour where they are just phoning it in for an easy paycheck, the band give it their all on every single track they play. Leithauser commands the stage, his crooning vocals as passionate as they were ten years ago, Walter Martin and Peter Bauer consistently swap between organ and bass, and drummer Matt Barrick smashes away like there’s no tomorrow with the sound mix ensuring that his contribution is highlighted, in particular on songs like “Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone” and “Little House of Savages”.

The setlist leans more towards their older material, with tracks from the last of their two albums “Heaven” and “Lisbon” only seeing 3 tracks in the entire setlist, however, the title track of “Heaven” makes for an exceptional closure of the main set with the lyrics now more poignant than ever for this reunion “Our gilded age may come and go // Our crooked dreams will always glow”… “Stick with me // Oh, you’re my best friend”.

Surprisingly they bang out their biggest hit “The Rat” just four songs (which still sounds as incredible as it did back in ‘04). The rest of the set is a celebration of the band’s past, we’re treated to anecdotes around the recording of “138th Street”, “Four Provinces” is dedicated to their “very available” tour manager and the encore is closed with the first song they ever wrote “We’ve Been Had”.

Whilst the “Revenge” tour seems to be a celebration of the band’s history, it also gives a glimmer of hope that there might be more to come from The Walkmen in the future.