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Kyle Dean Reinford

The Thermals & Pretty & Nice @ the Bell House - pics, setlist

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

The Thermals

Pretty & Nice, now with a new drummer, opened for the Thermals at the sold-out, late-late show at The Bell House in Brooklyn Saturday night (1/31). It really was late too. Joseph Arthur‘s set at the early show ran long. I got there a little before midnight thinking I had already missed Pretty & Nice, but instead I found a line to get in down the block with a club employee handing out cookies to everyone who was now forced to wait in the cold. P&N went on around 12:30. Thermals probably went on around 1:30. It was well worth the wait.

Kathy (bass and occasional vocals) and Hutch (guitars and vocals), also with a new drummer, tore through old and new material and two covers (Nirvana’s Sappy and Saints by the Breeders). The band and the sound system sounded tight. Everyone (well, a lot of people) was bouncing up and down and politely bumping into each other to the indie/post/punk/rock music. There were also a few slower jams, and at least one Obama shoutout. Now I really can’t wait to hear the new album – Now We Can See is out via Kill Rock Stars on April 7, 2009 (which is around the time Hutch said the band would be back in NYC).

As someone told me at the show, The Thermals last played NYC exactly, to the day, one year earlier (Jan 31, 2008 at Studio B). More pictures and both setlists (from Jan 31, 2009) below…

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

Pretty & Nice…

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice

Pretty & Nice

The Thermals

The Thermals…

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Thermals

The Breeders song was during the encore which isn’t on the Thermals setlist.

More Pretty & Nice dates HERE.

More Thermals dates HERE.