Cate Le Bon at Bowery Ballroom
photo by Ellen Qbertplaya

Cate Le Bon played 2 mesmerizing nights at Bowery Ballroom (pics, setlists, video)

Cate Le Bon released her terrific new album Pompeii on Friday (get it on limited edition yellow vinyl), and started her North American tour for it on Sunday night in Woodstock. After that, she headed to NYC for two sold-out shows at Bowery Ballroom. I caught the first night and pictures from night 2, along with setlists for both, are in this post.

Bathed in pink, purple and green lights, and playing a cool dayglo-orange, custom-built, and very new-wavy-looking guitar, Cate seemed like she beamed in from 1979, which fits the vibe of Pompeii, which at times has a very Berlin-period Bowie vibe.  Cate and her band — regular collaborator Euan Hinshelwood on sax, keyboards and guitar, Toko Yasuda (The Van Pelt, Enon) on bass, Dylan Hadley (White Fence) on drums, and Alex Morrison on keyboards and guitar — played every song from the album, as well as about half of 2019’s Reward. Fans of anything before that were out of luck, but no one seemed to mind at Tuesday’s show, which had large swaths of the crowd singing along to most of songs. They really sounded fantastic.

Tuesday night’s encore was a cover of Paul McCartney’s “Waterfalls,” and on Wednesday night she brought out Parquet CourtsAndrew Savage (who I spotted at in the crowd at Tuesday’s show) and Austin Brown to cover Bill Nelson’s “Do You Dream in Colour?” Video of the Bill Nelson cover, as well as the Paul McCartney cover from the Woodstock show, are below.

Mega Bog is opening on this tour and is well matched with Cate (If you haven’t checked out last year’s Life, And Another, it’s great). Using a headset mic and accompanied by a keyboardist, Erin Birgy had a magnetic stage presence, even while working out the kinks of her first shows using an old school drum machine. “When you replace your band with old junky boxes it just doesn’t feel the same,” she said.

While in town, Cate and the band stopped by WNYC’s Soundcheck to play a few songs and talk with host John Schafer, and you can watch that below, too.

Cate and Mega Bog’s next stop is Cleveland on Friday (2/11). All tour dates are listed below.

SETLIST: Cate Le Bon @ Bowery Ballroom 2/9/2022
Dirt on the Bed
French Boys
Moderation
Daylight Matters
Pompeii
Running Away
Cry Me Old Trouble
Mother’s Mother’s Magazines
Magnificent Gestures
Harbour
Miami
The Light
Home to You
Remembering Me
Wheel

Encore:
Do You Dream in Colour (Bill Nelson cover with Andrew Savage and Austin Brown)

SETLIST: Cate Le Bon @ Bowery Ballroom 2/8/2022
Dirt on the Bed
French Boys
Moderation
Daylight Matters
Pompeii
Running Away
Cry Me Old Trouble
Mother’s Mother’s Magazines
Magnificent Gestures
Harbour
Miami
The Light
Home to You
Remembering Me
Wheel

Encore:
Waterfalls (Paul McCartney cover)

CATE LE BON – 2022 TOUR DATES
Fri. Feb. 11 – Cleveland, OH @ The Grog Shop
Sat. Feb. 12 – Columbus, OH @ Natalie’s Grandview
Mon. Feb. 14 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Wed. Feb. 16 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
Thu. Feb. 17 – Seattle, WA @ Crocodile
Sat. Feb. 19 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Sun. Feb. 20 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ The Rock / SLO Brew Music Hall
Thu. Feb. 24 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
Sat. Feb. 26 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy’s (Sold Out)
Mon. March 14 – Southampton, UK @ Engine Rooms
Tue. March 15 – London, UK @ Hackney Empire
Wed. March 16 – Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
Thu. March 17 – Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 TV Studio
Fri. March 18 – Belfast, UK @ Empire Music Hall
Sat. March 19 – Dublin, IE @ The National Concert Hall
Mon. March 21 – Liverpool, UK @ Arts Club
Tue. March 22 – Leeds, UK @ Irish Centre
Wed. March 23 – Birmingham, UK @ The Mill
Mon. March 28 – Lille, FR @ L’Aeronef
Tue. March 29 – Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie
Thu. March 31 – Lyon, FR @ Epicerie Moderne
Fri. April 1 – Zurich, CH @ Bogen F
Sat. April 2 – Schorndorf, DE @ Manufaktur
Sun. April 3 – Leipzig, DE @ UT Connewitz
Tue. April 5 – Berlin, DE @ Frannz Club
Wed. April 6 – Hamburg, DE @ Nochtspeicher
Thu. April 7 – Stockholm, SE @ Slaktkyrkan/Hus 7
Fri. April 8 – Oslo, NO @ Parkteatret
Sat. April 9 – Copenhagen, DK @ Vega
Mon. April 11 – Brussels, BE @ AB Box
Tue. April 12 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso