S.Lo on June 10th, 2019

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Quips and re-tunings (and quips about re-tunings) were aplenty at the Roxy on Thursday night as Sebadoh celebrated their first album in six years, “Act Surprised,” out via Dangerbird Records. Playing through their new album as well as their 31-year catalog of power chords and lyrics with emotions as bare as diary entries, the show was split into four sections, with Lou Barlow and Jason Loewenstein swapping bass and guitar between sets as drummer Bob D’Amico got up to take swigs of water from side stage. “It’s the ol’ Sebadoh switcheroo,” joked Loewenstein as he took up the guitar at the first switch, with Barlow following up as he strapped on the bass, “I am here to support Jason’s songs now. I believe in Jason and he believes in me and we both believe in Bob. Fuck yeah.” And, indeed, all who packed the Roxy believed in Sebadoh.

Kicking things off with “I Will” from their 2013 album, “Defend Yourself,” Barlow said afterward, “So you know I lived in Los Angeles. That song was about things that led me away from here.” Following was a new song dealing with addictions of any sort, “Medicate,” and five more rockers from the new album before launching into “Drag Down” off the 1999 full length, “The Sebadoh.” New track “Stunned” jetted ahead with a really great middle eight, followed by four more from the new album.

A hilarious extended break followed as Barlow brought forward a 12-string electric semi-hollow body guitar, explaining that he was told to get another guitar to reduce re-tuning time on stage. “So we went to Guitar Center [in Studio City] and got the first one … and it takes me twice as long to tune now.” After a stagehand got massive applause for going up and wiping the stage in the meantime, Barlow continued tweaking the 12 strings with Loewenstein quipping, “It’s a real pain in the ass this one.” After a few more songs, Barlow shared (whilst re-tuning), “I got a hernia on this tour. It might be because I’ve been tuning a lot because when I’m tuning I get really tense.” Later in the set, Loewenstein apologized for the delays between songs, “We gotta tune some more because that’s just what we do. We get real fidgety sorry about that.” “Improvise a hailstorm!” Barlow followed.

Before the end of the set, Loewnstein gave a heartfelt thanks on behalf of the band. “These were good times. Thanks so much, you guys are very kind — I was going to say for L.A. You’ve been very warm, thanks so much.” Then they catapulted into “Careful,” off their ’94 album “Bakesale.”

After a few minutes of hootin’ and hollerin’ from the crowd, the band returned, with Barlow saying, “We can’t give you all of it, but we can give you some of it. We’re gonna play it very slow.” And they played six more songs, some of the best deep cuts from throughout their catalog, if one was able to rank favorites. 

New York post-punk quartet Flower (the precursor to Versus, French, Cell, Ruby Falls and the Pacific Ocean) reunited as a trio to tour as openers for Sebadoh. They’ll be returning August 25 to play the Echo for Part Time Punks.

Setlist: I Will, medicate, see-saw, sunshine, Reykjavik, phantom, raging river, Drag Down, stunned, follow the breath, act surprised, battery, Forced Love, Give Up, celebrate the void, fool, My Drugs, Got It, Beat, Careful // Encore: Good Thing, Magnet’s Coil, Ocean, Rebound, Skull, Brand New Love

Photos and recap by S.Lo