I saw a bunch of pretty good shows recently

Last night we saw the Heartless Bastards at the Mercury Lounge.

On Friday night I saw the Hold Steady at Warsaw.

On Tuesday night I saw Art Brut and the Ponys at the Bowery Ballroom.

Last week I saw Destroyer at Avalon.

I enjoyed all these shows pretty well. Destroyer was kind of as expected; he's done a good job lowering expectations and making his touring seem more special than it really is. I have the sense that people think it's a rare experience to see Destroyer live, which it maybe isn't really. I think he's toured all his records enough. Anyway, the current backing cast is nice enough though not especially noteworthy, from what I could tell. I enjoyed the set.

Art Brut was a lot of fun. They kind of remind me of the Hives, although I think I like the Art Brut songs better. There was a lot of energy and fun to this show, and I'd go see it again, even if it probably couldn't be better the next time. The Ponys were good enough. Not really interesting enough to be worth seeing in a big place, but could be fun in a smaller situation.

The Hold Steady show was very good. I enjoyed them the first time we saw them, and it was good to know that the experience was replicable. They played a bunch of newish songs that seemed good enough, so I'll keep playing attention. If you're not paying attention, you should. Go see them, because they make converts. I think they're playing a free show at Castle Clinton this summer.

The Heartless Bastards at the Mercury Lounge was a good combination of band and venue. We'd seen them open for the Fiery Furnaces before, and that performance was good enough for me to keep an eye out for their shows in the area. The singer has a voice, and the songs are really quite well developed for a first album. They supposedly will have something new out later.