Photos by CJ Foeckler
Deconstructing Destroyer’s music is not for the faint of heart. This Canadian band, perhaps best known for its front man Dan Bejar, does not create simple pop songs. The music weaves through decades, musical styles (including jazz and rock) and complex lyrics. Multiple listens reveal layer after layer.
How does that complexity translate to the live stage? Unfortunately, not as well as you’d hope. Destroyer played the Turner Hall Ballroom last night, and the show felt flat, like something was missing. And it was.
The nuances of Destroyer’s music are lost in the live setting. The delicate guitar in “Rubies” is lost to the drums, vocals and sheer energy of the live performance. For a band that has essentially made a career out of changing its sound album after album, the songs run together live. It works, don’t get me wrong, but I couldn’t help feel a little sorry for those hearing Destroyer’s music for the first time last night.
The set list stuck close to what Destroyer has been playing so far on this tour. Pulling heavily from 2011’s Kaputt, Destroyer dipped back into track from 2000’s Thief and 2001’s Streethawk: A Seduction, which Merge Records reissued in 2010. The band didn’t bother with pleasantries and charged through the 12-song, hour-long set, barely waiting off stage for three minutes before returning to play the two-song encore.
Bejar’s stage presence is no frills: He barely seems to open his eyes as he hunches over the microphone. He’s also developed the curious habit of squatting or sitting on the edge of the stage when he’s not singing. The effect? He essentially disappears and lets the band take over. Bejar, who used to pick up an instrument or two in the old days, seems fully entrenched in his role as lead singer, though he did play the tambourine on “Chinatown” and “Suicide Demo for Kara Walker.”
Minus an ill-conceived instrumental interlude between “Libby’s First Sunrise” and “Suicide Demo for Kara Walker,” Destroyer put on a solid, albeit predictable, performance. The strongest point in the show came during “Looter’s Follies” off of 2006’s Rubies, where Bejar let out a piercing scream and collapsed to the stage only to return a few moments later to finish the song.
That moment was one of few that stood out as high energy. The show lacked a climax, that two-song pairing that elevates the show and leads up to the band’s stage exit and inevitable encore return. That was missing. As was the nuance.
Set List
2. “Savage Night at the Opera” 2011
3. “European Oils”
4. “Downtown”
5. “English Music”
6. “Kaputt”
7. “Looter’s Follies”
8. “Chinatown”
9. “Rubies”
10. “Libby’s First Sunrise”
11. “Suicide Demo for Kara Walker”
2. “Destroyer’s the Temple”
