Destroyer at Brooklyn Steel
photo by P Squared

Destroyer played Brooklyn Steel with Mega Bog (pics, setlist)

Dan Bejar keeps his mic stand lowered to hip level, using it as a prop, like a cane, more than anything else. He also spends a good amount of time crouched down, just digging the gorgeous music his band makes, and that keeps his microphone with hand’s reach. It’s a nice touch, which goes with Bejar’s disheveled dandy image, and just one of the many things I enjoyed about Destroyer‘s terrific show at Brooklyn Steel on Saturday (1/27), part of their current tour. Working with the same group of excellent musicians he’s had for this decade — including indispensable trumpet player J.P. Carter — it was a dazzling world of sound that mostly split the difference between 2011’s Kaputt and last year’s ken.

No complaints about that — Kaputt and ken feel like haves of a whole, with Bejar like an Al Stewart who got into New Order and The Blue Nile in the ’80s. They opened with three first songs from ken, all of which sounded fantastic with Brooklyn Steel’s killer sound system, before Kaputt‘s title track and “Times Square” from 2015’s good if disjointed Poison Season. (One of two songs from that LP they played Saturday.) In addition to tracks from the three most recent albums, Destroyer also played “European Oils” and “Rubies” from Destroyer’s Rubies which may have been the biggest sing-along moments of the night. Setlist, and a few fan-shot videos, are below.

Opening the night was Meg Bog, whose jazz-influence prog pop made for a fine lead-in to Destroyer whose saxophonist Joseph Shabason joined them for a couple songs near the end of the set. Pictures from Mega Bog’s set, and the whole night, are in the gallery above.

Destroyer’s tour rolls on, and remaining dates are listed below.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BegMhkkHQPk/?taken-at=1850069821943311

https://www.instagram.com/p/BeexSQiAaUq/?taken-at=1850069821943311

SETLIST: Destroyer @ Brooklyn Steel 1/20/2018
Sky’s Grey
In the Morning
Tinseltown Swimming in Blood
Kaputt
Times Square
Saw You at the Hospital
A Light Travels Down the Catwalk
Rome
Suicide Demo for Kara Walker
European Oils
Chinatown
The River
Cover From the Sun
Bay of Pigs (Detail)

Encore:
Poor in Love
Rubies

DESTROYER – 2018 TOUR DATES
01/29/18 Asheville, NC Grey Eagle
01/30/18 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle
01/31/18 Atlanta, GA Terminal West
02/01/18 Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge
02/02/18 St. Louis, MO The Blueberry Hill
02/03/18 Omaha, NE The Waiting Room
02/05/18 Denver, CO Bluebird Theater
02/06/18 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge
02/07/18 Boise, ID Olympic Venue
02/08/18 Seattle, WA Neptune Theatre
02/09/18 Vancouver, BC Canada The Commodore Ballroom

photos by P Squared