While massive artists have done or are doing their COVID-delayed massive tours, smaller & newer acts are still trying to get their feet wet, after so long off. And if you’re a long-standing indie musician, but starting a new band? Doubly hard. That’s why it was so great to see Matt Pond’s new band, The Natural Lines, get onto the stage at Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus Bar (QRO venue review) on Friday, May 5th.
Yes, it was Cinco de Mayo, but thankfully everyone in attendance was too hip to culturally appropriate. And while the bar is metal-themed, it’s not too heavy – Pond remarked that he was wearing his “most metal” t-shirt, but it was from a coffee shop. Saint Vitus is a bit off the beaten track, so deep into Brooklyn that you have to use the G train to get there (the one that doesn’t go to Manhattan), but the ‘black box’ nature of the place let The Natural Lines shine.
And shine they did. Both last year’s debut First Five EP (QRO review) and this year’s self-titled full-length (QRO review) – which was of course written before First – have Pond’s signature brand of natural pop, if leaning a bit more into the sadder end of things this night with songs such as First’s night-opener, “The Problem Is Me”, or Natural’s “Alex Bell”. But Pond also included a good number of songs from his ‘old’ act (that he’s retired more than once), Matt Pond PA (QRO spotlight on). That included early fan favorite rarity “Halloween” from 2008’s The Freeep (QRO review), but also the MPP power-pop of “Ruins” and “Love To Get Used” (the latter from PA’s excellent 2013 The Lives Inside the Lines Inside Your Hand – QRO review).
Indeed, the back half of the set, after the “first date” of the first half, was heavy on the old PA. There was “Love”, and two from 2017’s Still Summer (QRO review), the title track (appropriate as the weather in NYC has been getting warmer) and closer “From Debris”. There was even the even-more-appropriate “Brooklyn Stars”, which Pond noted he wrote many years ago a half mile from where he now stood (albeit across the East River in Manhattan), admitting that the now-upstater misses living in the big city.
“It’s hot in here, and that’s good, because this is our first show in a while, and it ‘feels’ like a show…” Matt Pond noted at one point (adding, “Stay hydrated!”). Whether you’re a veteran of concerts or a newbie, it’s great to get other and see great acts like The Natural Lines.
