Photos by Oliver Lopena
Austin, TX natives …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and Ume performed at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, NJ on Tuesday, 7/23 (orchestral art rock band The Red Paintings opened). When I heard last month that Maxwell’s would be closing its doors forever at the end of July, I knew I had to make one final pilgrimage to the long-time live music institution – what better opportunity than to finally catch 2 bands that have always managed to elude me?
Ume has been on my radar ever since I saw their music video for “The Conductor” (from their 2009 Sunshower EP). If you’ve never seen it, stop reading right now and go watch it below. Ok, you can proceed now that we’re on the same page. Ume is a band that I have internally hyped up so much over the years that I was slightly concerned that their live performance wouldn’t hold up to my expectations. Concerns, be damned… despite ongoing sound/gear problems during their set, their live performance blew me away! After finally catching them live, I’m certain that they’re on the verge of blowin’ up.
They’ve recently finished recording a forthcoming LP and I, for one, am super psyched for it. In the meantime, listen to their 2011 LP Phantoms on SoundCloud. FYI, they’ll be headlining a show at MilkBoy Philly this coming Friday, 7/26 and you should seriously consider going (get tickets here).
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stay for Trail of Dead’s entire set as I was feeling particularly lethargic from gorging excessive amounts of nachos and fish & chips prior to the show and I was in dire need of some caffeine and/or sleep, stat. From what I hear, it got pretty crazy and was a “f*cking epic” send off befitting of one of the final shows ever at Maxwell’s.
FYI, Maxwell’s be throwing a closing night block party on 7/31 starting at 4pm. You should go.
Keep scrolling to see more photos from the show.
Whoever said Trail of Dead was “fucking epic” was spot on!