Ted Leo @ South Street Seaport [8/25/06]

So last night was the annual free Ted Leo show at South Street Seaport. I've seen Ted a bunch of times, and this was the longest set I've ever seen him do. Rather than the usual hour and 15 minutes, Ted played close to two hours, and would have kept going if they hadn't pretty much kicked him off the stage.

The set was pretty varied, including songs from his last 3 albums, as well as 8 (9?) new songs. All the new songs sounded good, but my favorites were the military-themed ones: "Army Bound", "The Lost Brigade" and "C.I.A." The last of these, which Ted dedicated to a high school teacher of his who was in the crowd, repeated a refrain along the lines of "C.I.A., you don't know what you do", and at the end sang "But the Afghanis do... and the Guatemalans do... and the Nicaraguans do..." I'm paraphrasing, of course, but it's classic political Ted wrapped up in a kick-ass song. Can't wait for the album.

I got there early to catch blog-favorites Tokyo Police Club. I like their debut EP, A Lesson in Crime. Unfortunately, their live show has yet to really gel, and they were just kinda meh. Like I said, though, it's a good EP, and you should still check them out. The second openers, DC Snipers, were pretty decent, early 80's-oriented punk. Nothing to write home about though. The lead singer did look like a chubbier Mac McCaughan.

Ted


Tokyo Police Club

D.C. Snipers