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They’re back! The Walkmen, the elegantly bedraggled princes of early-’00s New York rock, broke up to much ballyhoo in 2013, but they recently announced plans to reunite for their first shows in nearly a decade. Before they finally took the stage together, it was an open question whether the Walkmen would be able to practice together ahead of time or whether they’d even be able to perform their best-loved songs. Last night on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, the Walkmen performed for the first time since 2014, and they were able to summon the fire.
A few months ago, frontman Hamilton Leithauser talked about how the Walkmen hadn’t actually met in person since agreeing to reunite, and he also said that they weren’t rehearsing ahead of time. Seems risky! On Twitter last month, guitarist Paul Maroon said that the band’s 2004 anthem “The Rat,” their best-loved song, is “extremely fast and currently I cannot play it.” Then, a couple of weeks later, Maroon tweeted that he’d learned to play “The Rat” after all. A few days ago, the band posted a group-chat screenshot where they’d apparently decided to practice before the performance. Last night on Colbert, though, the Walkmen played “The Rat,” and they were still the Walkmen.
“The Rat,” man. What a song. You can certainly see how it might be hard to bring the intensity for a song like “The Rat” when you’re getting older, and Hamilton Leithauser certainly looked red in the face within the first few second. Also, the YouTube video cuts off early; I don’t know what that’s about. (The Twitter video embedded below has the whole song.) Still, the Walkmen played “The Rat,” and they looked and sounded magnificent. I’ve seen the Walkmen live a lot of times, and I’ve never seen them play anything less than a great show. You’re in safe hands at these reunion gigs. Check out last night’s performance below.
Read our 2013 feature on the Walkmen’s final days here.
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Courtesy : https://www.stereogum.com/2220879/watch-the-walkmen-perform-for-the-first-time-in-nine-years-on-colbert/news/