Hop Along’s tour in support of their new album Bark Your Head Off, Dog stopped in at Brooklyn Steel last night (5/30) for a sold-out show.
The band opened with single “How Simple” and proceeded to play most of the new album. Lead singer Frances Quinlan was in fine form, working the audience with her absurd range and variety of vocal deliveries. Buried in the middle of the set was “Powerful Man” followed by “I Saw My Twin,” just as they appear on Painted Shut, and Frances’ vocals on the latter were as growly and emotive as ever.
Multi-instrumentalist Chrissy Tashjian of Thin Lips and lead guitarist Joe Reinhart both commanded the stage for portions of the show, especially as they harmonized leads on the new album- and set-ender “Prior Things,” while drummer Mark Quinlan and bassist Tyler Long kept everything deep and punchy.
The three-song encore began with Frances’ solo performance of “Happy to See Me,” before the rest of the band returned for a performance of “The Knock.” And, while Bark Your Head Off, Dog undoubtedly presents an amazing indication of Hop Along’s sheer musicality and breadth as songwriters, the ending performance of “Tibetan Pop Stars” brought the most energy across band and crowd as the pit began to jump and shout and Frances’ perfectly gritty vocals cut through it all.
Bat Fangs—pop-metal project of Ex Hex’s Betsy Wright and Flesh Wounds’ Laura King—started the night energetically with fantastic performances of tracks from their self-titled record released earlier this year. Wright’s guitar work was often of a face-melting variety, and King kept things tight and loud on a genre-appropriate set of Vistalites.
Saintseneca, for whom this was the final night opening for Hop Along, treated the audience to a lively set, including performances of unreleased songs from an album coming later this year, per lead singer Zac Little.
Scroll for more photos from the show and information about the bands’ tour dates on their Zumic artist pages below. Pick up Bark Your Head Off, Dog on Amazon.
