It's Great to See You Guys!

 "You know the Walkmen are playing on Wednesday," my friend informed me two days ago.
"Didn't we just see them a few months ago?"
"Yeah. And for free. Still, I'd go. It's worth it."
That's about all the arm twisting it took to get me to the first of five concerts I'll be attending over the next few weeks. I guess I still really enjoy live music.
"I finish work at 9. Let's meet at Bikini," I said, referencing the venue, which could just as easily be named after a grilled ham and cheese sandwich as a piece of sexy swimwear. I honestly don't know which one the club is going for.
Being a teacher approaching 40, I try to fool my students and their parents into believing I'm a responsible adult. I do this by donning my responsible adult disguise, which today consisted of khaki pants and a Gap shirt. I fit in well with my last class - three teenage boys who are painfully preppy. It's not their fault - two of them are brothers who were born looking like Ralph Lauren models (tall, blond with brown eyebrows, angular faces). They would look wrong in anything other than striped shirts and boat shoes. Ok, the third looks so Jewish I think his great great grandparents must have changed their name and decided to weather out the inquisition, but he's trying to belong.
Anyway, it wasn't my rock-and-rollingest outfit, but, being a teacher approaching 40, I figured it best not to care. I needn't have worried at all. The Walkmen took to the stage in more button-downs, blazers and crew-neck sweaters than a TED conference. And rocked.

"Thanks for coming. It's great to see you guys. We're the Walkmen," said singer Hamilton Leithauser as the concert started on a quiet and pretty note, just him and the guitarist slowly building up the song.

Their latest album, Heaven, is grown-up in all the right ways. I suppose it's not surprising considering that 10 years ago they were already lamenting being past their prime, but of all the entitled millennial WASP New York rockers (Strokes, Interpol, et al) I didn't expect them to be the sole ones still making exciting vibrant music. They are masters of insinuation, creating moods out of a few spare guitar notes and hinted keyboard lines. They leaned heavily on their most recent material while revisiting hits (hits?) from previous efforts.
"Thanks for coming. It's great to see you guys. We're the Walkmen," said singer Hamilton Leithauser before the band tore into Angela and The Rat.

Remember in the 90's, after the Smells Like Teen Spirit video when every fucking dumbass jock would mosh at whatever show they were at? Pits would form at Cranberries or Inspiral Carpets concerts. It was fucking terrible. We've reached a similar stage of evolution with hipsters, who are now just retarded teenagers with awkward haircuts and glasses partying like it's jello shots night at the delta sigma house. Between the stupidity happening next to me and the awesomeness in front of me, I felt ok about being a teacher approaching 40 in khakis. Now get off my lawn!

"Thanks for coming. It's great to see you guys. We're the Walkmen," said singer Hamilton Leithauser when they came out to do a two song encore consisting of an old song and an audience request. He seemed like he meant it.