Photos/Review: The Breeders @ Webster Hall

The Breeders @ Webster Hall – December 19, 2013
Photos/Review: Chris

Last night, The Breeders returned to New York City to play their last few shows in celebration of their 1993 album Last Splash, which turned 20 this year and was reissued by 4AD. That album’s lineup was fully intact, including both Kim and Kelley Deal on guitars/vocals, Josephine Wiggs on bass/vocals, Carrie Bradley on violin/vocals and Jim MacPherson on drums. Special to only select dates on their lengthy 2013 tour, the band returned to the stage after playing Last Splash in its entirety to also play the Breeders’ debut album, Pod.

The Deal sisters were in top form last night, as was the rest of the band, who seemed to be in excellent spirits. It’s kind of hard to imagine the Breeders playing a better setlist, with both Last Splash and Pod largely considered to be landmark albums of the nineties. I was only 10 years old when Last Splash was released, but you had to have been living under a rock to not hear “Cannonball” on the radio or on MTV for a solid year afterwards. Oddly enough, it was discovering Kim Deal’s other band the Pixies years later that actually led me to become enamored with how great the Breeders were. Compared to the Pixies in 2013, the Breeders come out on top.

Opening the show was Northampton, MA indie band Speedy Ortiz, who I had only recently heard due to their album Major Arcana popping up on numerous “best of 2013” lists. It’s hard to deny that the band knows a thing or two about writing catchy, complex songs. If it weren’t for the vocals, you could easily label Speedy Ortiz a post-hardcore band, but somehow frontwoman Sadie Dupuis’s singing turns them into a pretty unique noise/pop band. It was fitting that they were opening for the Breeders.

The band plays Webster Hall again tonight and tickets are still available. It was relatively empty right up until the Breeders took the stage last night (around 9pm), which was great considering Webster is generally packed to the brims. Check out some photos of the Breeders below…