MJ Lenderman @ Brooklyn Steel, Brooklyn, NY 4/28/25

 


Bill: MJ Lenderman/Joanna Sternberg

Venue: Brooklyn Steel, Brooklyn, NY

Date: Mon 4/28/25

Door: Sold Out ($63 on Stubhub last minute)

9:15pm MJ Lenderman



Active: 2018 (Asheville, NC)

Latest Release: Manning Fireworks (Anti-, 2024)

Bandcamp Facebook Instagram Discogs Allmusic Setlist Wiki YouTube

Missed: 8pm Joanna Sternberg

Yesterday I was itching to go out and see something/anything, so to get my 10,000+ steps in I decided around 6:30 last night to walk 2 1/2 miles to Brooklyn Steel and see the new indie rock critic savior MJ Lenderman.  Of course, when I got there the show was sold out and tickets at 8:00 were over $100 on the secondary market, so I went to 18th Ward Brewing across the street and had a few rounds and missed Joanna Sternberg completely.   I figured I was going to go home but I checked prices at 9:10 and saw a ticket for the $63 it was in the morning with $13 fee I was trying to dodge going to the door.  In a fit of shot-addled drunken decision making, I decided I was going to see what all the fuss was about after all.  This was the first of three nights in an 1,800-capacity venue presumably now all sold out except for resells that will set you back plus/minus a hundred bucks if you decide you want to go.

So I got inside while MJ was already on and got a nice leaning post to avoid the door people go in and out of in a sold-out room. Somehow, I got dislodged from my leaning post later in the show getting some clips for this blog but mostly I had a good perch without the crowd in my hair.  The first few songs I saw I thought were boring and annoying like this year's Kurt Vile or My Morning Jacket.  I was writing to Mary Lou Lord about this today since she is a huge fan of my missed opener Joanna Sternberg and she nailed it as this year's War On Drugs or "the guy from War On Drugs" as she put it.  Likeable B-grade stuff that you rarely go back to after you hear it once or thrice.  These records always seem to find their way onto end of year lists whether Mojo, Uncut or Rolling Stone.    As the show went on, I noted one of the guitarists looked like Lou Barlow and then they encored with "Lotta Love" by Nicolette Larson errr Neil Young, which Dino also covered with far less reverence.

I did appreciate toward the end of the show that Lenderman was bringing out his inner Crazy Horse and even got in some of those type of solos, so in effect he won me over.  Even if the paraphrase of "Knocking On Heavens Door" for his own song to close the night is a trick out of the Hootie and the Blowfish bag.  Play with the big boys you might get have to pay a big boy settlement.

FOR FURTHER REVIEW:

Joanna Sternberg @ Bowery Ballroom 12/19/24













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