M Ward - Apollo & WNYC today, full album stream, Letterman video & more 2009 tour dates

Thanks for reminding me of Vivian Girls. I will not be there early.

Well put Anon 1:42 - Any idea of what time M will be going on around?

God I hope Conor does not show up again like he did last time M played Town Hall. I don't know what would be worse - seeing that D-Bag or watching the Vivian Girls? Discuss?

I like Oberst. Got an email from Merge that in May they are releasing another Mystic Valley Band album. Can't wait.

The Town Hall show was great for M. Ward, but I think Oberst was loaded and forgot all the lyrics to Vincent. They are usually good together...when M. Ward played 10 or so songs with Oberst at the Bright Eyes show at Bowery a few years back, they were great.

So stoke! I hope Zooey shows up.

times anyone...

umm, you left out his feb 21st date in dc at sixth and I synagogue.

the new m ward album is god awful, folks.

probably is, but man he's got chops!

Times:
Doors: 7pm
Vivan Girls: 8pm
M. Ward: 9 pm

the new m ward album is god awful, folks.

>> well then you probably just don't like M Ward because his last 3 records pretty much all sound the same with only slight variations......

You can hear M. Ward performing live in concert tomorrow Friday on WXPN at Noon eastern; webcast at xpn.org and NPR Music npr.org

Felt a little short, but good show all around:

Hold Time
Lullaby + Exile
Chinese Translation
Epistemology
To Save Me
Post-War
Fisher of Men
Change is Hard
Poison Cup
Oh Lonesome Me
One Hundred Million Years
Duet For Guitars
Bean Vine Blues #2
Vincent O’ Brien
To Go Home (w. Oakley Hall)
Never Had Nobody Like You (w. Oakley Hall)
Big Boat
e.
Rollover Beethoven
Rave On (w. Oakley Hall)
Magic Trick (w. Oakley Hall)

someone kept shouting for "Deep Dark Well"...he should've played it. He should listen to his fans.

I thought the crowd was fucking lame.

What anon 12:26 didn't mention was the dude who kept yelling "what did i tell you!?!!" at the dude who kept yelling deep dark well. the whole crowd thought it was hiiillarrriioouuusss.

Anyway, GREAT show, loved the stuff from his new album, the sound was off at times, didn't understand the vivian girls as the opener, though.

Vivian Girls? really? What was that thing in the end where they were not sounding very good (sound issues were a problem for both bands), so they switched instruments and then sounded worse? What was that supposed to be? It was 4 degrees outside, but I went and smoked through as much of that as I could. Sorry ladies. After them, I expected the recorded voice of Ossie Davis to say "what the f was that?" in unison with the awesome audience dude who kept owning the deep dark water asshole.

And why on earth would you have Vivian Girls open, when Oakley Hall was there to play for 5 minutes? Why didn't they just open the show?

Who was the sound guy last night? That show was terrible. M.Ward played through like a champ, but either the pickup in his acoustic is f@#ked or the Apollo needs to buy some new cables. That was amateur night, the clown guy with the cane should have been in the back of the theater pulling the sound guy away.

Agreed about the shortness of the set, the giant ball of suck that was the Vivian Girls, and the weirdness about sound on the acoustic. Oh, how marvelous it would have been if Ossie came back from the grave to join forces with "THAT'S ENOUGH OUT OF YOU!" guy.

But M.Ward rocks. That guy can play like nobody's business! And the ladies who work at the Apollo are the sweetest music venue employees in the entire tri-state area.

that show made me feel old. and bored.

Anybody else see Julia Stiles rockin out? She is fine!

I thought for a sec that "She" would come out when he started Change is Hard, but i liked the solo version better. Really enjoyable show!

I loved the M. Ward set. Very folky and "stompy." Really cool setlist, too.

Is positivity allowed on BV boards?

The sounds last night did, indeed, suck. There was major feedback and hum, especially for his acoustic guitar. Luckily, he didn't pull a Neko and flip out. The band didn't even mention the sound issues... even though you could tell they were annoyed.

The set was a little short, but it was a good one. Good setlist... I dig the new album.

Julia Stiles was, indeed, rockin' out in one of the boxes in the balcony.

The beer lines were crap and the crowd was pretty lame. There was a total dork in the front row that was the only guy standing for the encore... until a few even bigger dorks stormed the front and danced with him during "Magic Trick".

The "what did I tell you?!" yelling guy was funny.

As always, the ushers at the Apollo are the worst.

Pretty much agree with everything said. Short setlist for an artist with hours worth of material (albeit a very solid set). Didn't think it came close to touching his Town Hall set 1-2 yrs ago.

Sound was really rough - the guitar player (the oldest guy in the band) was calling out for level adjustments on almost every song. The piano also sounded very strange.

I thought the staff at the Apollo were great. Very sweet and polite. Like other posts, the sound was awful but M. Ward cranked through it. I mean the sound was really bad and I'm not very picky. Overall, I agree that his new stuff sounded just like his old stuff which could be a good thing or a bad thing. I also agree about the Vivian Girls... not very good (it very well could have had to do with the sound as well) and probably not the best fit for M. Ward opener, but I was open to it. I just didn't like them. Crowd was pretty lame and I was actually happy about the dork standing up in the front. It is a concert people not the ballet. Have fun with it! I wish everyone would have run down there earlier.

Overall, M Ward is great (regardless of the sound system) and I'm just glad Zoe didn't join him.

is the sound bad in general at the apollo? has anyone been to multiple shows there and have input on this subject?

... i generally liked m ward on his first couple of albums, and listening now to the new one, it's way over-done and boring. he's trying too hard. so, you don't have to be a hater to think the new album isn't very good.

This live show improved my feelings toward the new record.

I can't stop listening to the new album, its great....gets better and better with every listen and those songs were so good live.

The new album is really good, very original!

the sound at the apollo is usually OK (not great). Sounded like they were having some problems with the connections last night. It was much worse than it usually is.

I've seen James Brown, Sharon Jones, multiple jazz shows, Jenny Lewis and Bjork at the apollo and the sound has NEVER been that bad.

The sound for the Vivian Girls was just way too loud and had waaaay too much reverb. The main problem with M's sound in my opinion (& I think someone previously mentioned this as well) was with that 1 acoustic guitar he was playing. It sounded like it was either a problem with the pickup in the guitar or possibly a bad wire and/or connection to the house speakers. There was the occasional feedback too.

But when that guy yelled out Deep Dark Well and the other guy's first response was "That's enough out of you!", I was about to piss my pants. Then he does it again later and the same guy says "What did I tell you?". Classic.

The Vivian Girls sound is supposed to have way to much reverb. That's the act.

Another thing I thought M. Ward needed lastnight was more base from the drums. The base last night was pretty much obsolete.

Bass

The backing band was awful - I wish he would have had Norfolk/Western. That show did not touch when he played Maxwells - The Bowery - and Town Hall. Awful acoustics and the crowd sucked. Thank god I missed the Vivian Girls.