Dan Bejar is not happy, or at least that is the impression that he gives to a couple standing next to me, who had a detailed discussion of how much he appears to hate all of us. And I don’t necessarily disagree with the overall perception, but I don’t think he owes us anything, either.
He’s singing in that always surprising voice of his at an almost sold-out Destroyer show at the 9:30 Club with seven very talented musicians backing him up, and if he wants to close his eyes for the entire song and exhaustively kneel down in between every song then so be it. The crowd still cheered them on, not so much in that rabid, overwhelmed super fan way, but in the way the way that implies “We like you, we support you, this won’t take too long, and then we can all go home.”
They were very measured and certainly played fine, with Bejar accentuating certain lines by, well, opening his eyes. “Don’t be ashamed and disgusted with yourselves,” is certainly much more meaningful when the man singing it takes that exact moment to peer out to the crowd. “Bay of Pigs” was certainly the best (and the last) song of the evening, in a setlist that was heavy on songs from the bands most recent release, 2011’s Kaputt. Destroyer’s albums have been quite varied in terms of influence, but the lite jazz by way of shimmering prog is where they seem most comfortable.
Check out more shots of Destroyer at the 9:30 Club last Saturday.
Setlist:
Your Blues
Savage night
Downtown
Heartswarm
European Oils
Blue Eyes
Looters Follies
Kaputt
Suicide Demo for Kara Walker
Libby’s
Rubies
Encore:
English Words
Bay of Pigs
Photos by Liz Gorman
