Cold War Kids are celebrating two whole decades of being a band with their 20 Years Tour, which stopped through New Haven’s College Street Music Hall on November 2.
Oklahoma City-based band Husbands opened the evening with a bright and eclectic performance brimming with palpable joy. Self-described as “indie-surf-garage” and “what-have-you,” the four-piece brought a quirky and whimsical twist to the evening, and would find themselves at home amongst bands such as Joywave, Winnetka Bowling League, and flipturn.
Headliners Cold War Kids have been in the business for quite some time; now celebrating their 20th year of making music together. The band’s performance demonstrates a level of professionalism and reverence for the craft that many spend years longer chasing. Singer Nathan Willett, bassist Matt Maust, guitarist David Quon, drummer Joe Plummer, and multi-instrumentalist Matthew Schwartz are so deeply in tune with each other in a way that delivers a performance so clean and flawless it would be worthy of a studio recording. Known for their creative percussion and Willett’s unique and impressive vocal technique, the five managed to nail every single tricky run, soaring riff, and register flip throughout the entire evening.
The indie rockers started off the evening strong with a run through of radio hits “Love Is Mystical,” “Complainer,” and “What You Say.” In recent years, the band made the bold decision to release music independently in order to free themselves of the commercial single and album release cycle – the first of which releases, “Meditations,” was met with enthusiasm from their fans in both a commercial and live setting. Though Cold War Kids are keeping an eye on the future, they also took time to honor their older catalog, including the rarely performed track “Thunderhearts” which Willett dedicated to their beloved tour manager. In a tender moment, Willett stripped things back for an acoustic performance of “For Your Love,” dedicated to his own five-year-old daughter, as well as the mothers in the audience. Willett then treated the crowd to a stunning piano intro to “We Used To Vacation” before the rest of the band rejoined him on stage to close out the main set with “All This Could Be Yours.”
The encore of “Something Is Not Right With Me” and “First” were met with immense enthusiasm and audience participation; the latter of the tracks having been the band’s first true commercial breakthrough from 2014’s Hold My Home. Just as much as the camaraderie between the five musicians on stage was clear to see, so was the sense of togetherness that filled the entire venue. Willett made sure to honor all his bandmates and their 25+ year long friendship alongside the packed audience before him of devoted fans from all different walks of life.
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