New-York-by-way-of-Copenhagen’s New Politics hit San Francisco this past Sunday night, bringing their “Everywhere I Go Tour” to the Fillmore. With Daylight Savings Time kicking in the previous night, internal clocks may have been confused but that didn’t seem to keep the fans away as they crammed the floor in front of the stage.
SomeKindaWonderful kicked off the night with a 20 minute set that likely left those familiar with their latest single Reverse, thinking differently about the band. With some elements of folk and a cover of Tupac Shakur’s California Love, SKW proved that there’s much more to them than meets the eye.
Bad Suns took the stage at 8:45 pm to the type of screaming from the crowd that’s normally reserved for the headliners. But frontman Christo Bowman played it cool, crooning through his 35 minute set with a confidence that probably elicits the aforementioned reaction on a regular basis. Heck, when he hopped off the stage to sing from the barricade, the crush was visible as everyone tried to edge closer.
Once Bad Suns wrapped their set, the crew scurried around the stage removing almost all the equipment save for a drum riser, amp and upright piano and by the time New Politics’ 9:45 set time rolled around, the crowd was clearly pumped for some action. Having toured extensively opening for the likes of Thirty Seconds to Mars, Fall Out Boy Pink and Paramour it was about time we saw New Politics with a headlining slot and, as Søren recounted the first time they played the Fillmore opening for Dirty Heads, it was clear that the band was even more excited than the crowd. And that’s saying a lot.
Kicking off the set with Tonight You’re Perfect, David and Søren flew around the stage while Louis beat the crud out of his drum kit. To say that the crowd went nuts would be an understatement … the ballroom floor flexed noticeably with each bounce from the crowd. Fueled by the fervor, NP didn’t let up an ounce and were all drenched in sweat by the time front man David Boyd broke out his signature break dance moves during Give Me Hope.
New Politics has been working on a new album that’s set to be released in February called Vikings and the band was kind enough to pull out a track called Loyalties Among Thieves. Given the reaction from the crowd, this record’ll be a hit. And if a new song wasn’t enough to get the crowd roiled, Boyd screamed, “Make some noise for the Beastie Boys!” as they launched into a cover of Sabotage.
The crazy lights swirling around the stage made for the perfect backdrop as the trio ruled every inch of the space song after song, bringing things to a fever pitch with Yeah Yeah Yeah before wrapping the encore with Harlem. The tour rolls on into December so catch them if you can … and bring your dancing shoes.
Setlist:
- Tonight You’re Perfect
- Berlin
- Die for You
- Give Me Hope
- My Love
- Loyalties Among Thieves
- Sabotage (Beastie Boys cover)
- Die Together
- Dignity
- Overcome
- Goodbye Copenhagen
- Love Is A Drug/We Are the Radio/New Generation
- Just Like Me
- Stuck On You
- Everywhere I Go (Kings & Queens)
- Yeah Yeah Yeah
–Encore–
- Fall Into These Arms
- Harlem
Supporting acts: SomeKindaWonderful, Bad Suns
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