The War on Drugs

[oistheone]

Saw these guys at Massey Hall in Toronto over the weekend and HOLY SHIT this band is on fire right now. In terms of fiery, jammin' live shows, this was up there with MMJ and Roger Waters for the absolute best I've seen this year. They're really fleshing out these tunes and are in complete control of tone and vibe. Not to mention they've got a super fucking sick light show. They smoked out an entire 3000-seat theatre and then shot out rainbow lazers during "Under the Pressure"! Who else does that?!

"Thinking of a Place" was stretched out to 15 sublime minutes, but unfortunately that pushed them to their curfew and we did not get an encore. The previous night, they busted out "Like a Hurricane" in honor of Neil after their main set, so that was a bit of a bummer. But I suppose you can never go wrong leaving the crowd wanting more.

WOD have now offically been elevated to "never fucking miss these guys" status. A+!

[Petty55]

Shug, you said you're looking forward to the next leg..any idea when that will be announced? And do you have any thoughts on what region it will be? I'm down here in FL and we often get left out, hoping that's not the case for this tour.

[LBSUNFLWR]

Nice! I am very excited for my show here December 20th.

[parkervb]

how about a sweet recording of the show at the Anthem??

https://archive.org/details/wod2017-10-23

Under the Pressure->Clean Living set closer?? I love Clean Living from the new album and of course UTP is a flat out J-A-M

[BWA]

I was at the Massey Hall show on Saturday.  We were really hoping for Thinking of a Place - sadly they didn't play it....though Like a Hurricane was fun.   For some reason they don't play TOAP all that often - it is my favourite song on the album and they do play most of the new album each night.  Even without it was a stellar show..Under the Pressure is amazing this tour.   They can really channel Springsteen/Neil Young/Petty/Dire Straits but in a modern way that is unique.   Highly recommended.

[Crispy]

I caught the two shows in Denver, and my favorite tune was the closer on the first night, It's Your Destiny, an absolute mind-bender.

[LBSUNFLWR]

Thinking of a Place is definitely my favorite song on the new album.

[parkervb]

I caught the two shows in Denver, and my favorite tune was the closer on the first night, It's Your Destiny, an absolute mind-bender.

that's rad, they haven't played much from Slave Ambient this tour it seems.

[APR]

The DC show was off the charts.  The segues between songs were MMJ-like.  Great setlist, so many great songs, stellar jams, and very cool lights all set the mood and atmosphere right up there with the best of the best.  Thanks Parker for the link.  It has been fun to revisit the show.  They were on the road forever for their last album, and they're bigger and better than ever.  So I predict more US shows in 2018.  I will be there!  oistheone is spot on..... A+

By the way, The Anthem is a new venue in DC, and it outstanding.  DC has never had an MMJ multi night run, but hopefully that will change with this new venue being very appropriate for that.  I've been there twice recently and got perspectives from the floor, the second tier, and third tier.  The back of the floor doesn't even seen too far from the stage.  The top tier is quite high up though.  Plenty of bars with no lines and great selection of beers.

[LBSUNFLWR]

https://www.jambase.com/article/the-war-on-drugs-performs-world-cafe-session

The War On Drugs recently set out on tour in support of their new studio album A Deeper Understanding. Last month the Philadelphia-based band stopped by local radio station WXPN to record songs from the album during a live session for World Cafe.

Frontman/guitarist Adam Granduciel, bassist Dave Hartley, keyboardist Robbie Bennett, drummer Charlie Hall, guitarist Anthony LaMarca and multi-instrumentalist Jon Natchez were just a couple of days into their tour when they assembled at WXPN Studios in Philly back on September 20. Host Talia Schlanger witnessed the group performing the A Deeper Understanding tracks "Pain" and "Knocked Down." Check out the pair of tunes below:

[Shug]

Shug, you said you're looking forward to the next leg..any idea when that will be announced? And do you have any thoughts on what region it will be? I'm down here in FL and we often get left out, hoping that's not the case for this tour.

I got no special info, just going off the fact that the tour for the last album went on for a year and a half at least.  This one should be the same, I'm figuring.

I love hearing all the stoke and passion for the live show, I'm feeling' too!  Thanks for sharing your thoughts, dudes.

I'll be looking for more dates to go to, preferably some more multi night runs wherever they may happen.  Looks like that won't be until March or April at the earliest with the Europe and Australia tours in Nov and Feb. Tempting to try for some of those Dec US dates, but not gonna travel that far for just one show in a city.  I'm sure more dates will be announced in the next few months.  Can't wait for it, gotta see these guys as much as possible this tour, like O and APR said!!

[e-stone]

pro shot vid from their November 2nd show in Amsterdam. 

https://3voor12.vpro.nl/speel~WO_VPRO_11611392~the-war-on-drugs-afas-live-amsterdam-02nov17~.html

edit: my GOD "Under the Pressure" is as epic as i remember it being in Denver last month.

[APR]

pro shot vid from their November 2nd show in Amsterdam. 

https://3voor12.vpro.nl/speel~WO_VPRO_11611392~the-war-on-drugs-afas-live-amsterdam-02nov17~.html

edit: my GOD "Under the Pressure" is as epic as i remember it being in Denver last month.

Great find and thanks for posting!  I will be watching this soon and looking forward to "Under the Pressure" my favorite song of their that they also jammed on in DC.

[Shug]

Yeah, awesome, thanks for finding this, dude!  We watched it last night, captured the live set of this tour with good sound and camera work. Leave it to Northern Europeans to know what to film and how to do it right.

Strangest Thing has that epic guitar solo, such a beautiful song with an emotive Neil Young-like solo that Adam tears it up on. The way this song is played live might be the one to turn on classic roots rockers who are still skeptical or have not yet been able to get past the 80s sheen. Nice to have Thinking Of A Place in the set since we didn't get to hear that at either of the two shows we went to so far.  I can't believe Neil Young fans are not all over this new set of songs especially the way they are played live.

[Jackets N Pones]

No joke I listened to Strangest Thing at least 5 times today in my truck. Looking forward to this video, thanks for posting.

[iLikeBeer]

Strangest Thing is my favorite song on this album!   

[rkwedge]

pro shot vid from their November 2nd show in Amsterdam. 

https://3voor12.vpro.nl/speel~WO_VPRO_11611392~the-war-on-drugs-afas-live-amsterdam-02nov17~.html

edit: my GOD "Under the Pressure" is as epic as i remember it being in Denver last month.

Great show, as I figured "Thinking of a Place" is soooooo good live. Thanks for posting this show

[Shug]

New headlining dates just announced in Vegas, Tucson, Phoenix, Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee around some of the festivals!

http://www.thewarondrugs.net/tour

[iLikeBeer]

New headlining dates just announced in Vegas, Tucson, Phoenix, Cleveland, Detroit and Milwaukee around some of the festivals!

http://www.thewarondrugs.net/tour

Definitely hitting the Cleveland show for sure!  It will be my wife's first time seeing them!   

[Shug]

They also added a couple other So. Cal shows around Coachella, too.