Read previous – Snail Mail @ Union Transfer (4/6/2022)
After having vocal cord surgery in late 2021, Lindsey Jordan of Snail Mail is finally back on top. Her sold out show at The Stone Pony on Wednesday, August 17th was a makeup date for the one originally scheduled last December. While still in the early period of recovery, we had a chance to catch her in April of this year in Philly (coverage here). For her show at The Stone Pony, she’s not only fully recovered, but sounding better than ever.
Opening for Snail Mail were Hotline TNT and Momma. A 4-piece fronted by Allegra Weingarten and Etta Friedman, I was blown away by Momma whose fuzzy drop D grunginess and melodic riffs on tracks like “Motorbike” comprise the centerpiece of my musical listening. Weingarten shreds on lead guitar and sings lead while Friedman swapped between bass and guitar and sang harmonies. They just released their 3rd LP Household Name (on Polyvinyl) and it’s fantastic. Along with the album, they also released a 22-minute documentary featuring clips from their Household Name studio sessions – you can watch the full documentary here.
Although this was my second time catching Snail Mail this year, their show was still full of plenty of surprises. Gone were the stage pieces and theatrics of their set being introduced by Madleen Kane’s “You and I”. They kicked off their set with Lush tracks “Heat Wave” and “Speaking Terms” before launching into tracks from their 2021 LP Valentine. Their performance of “Thinning” from Habit sounded even more anthemic, in part due to the return of Jordan’s full vocal dynamics and expression (as well the larger band) which also came through on tracks like “Automate”. As far as surprises go, they performed a cover of Muse’s “Starlight” – gotta be honest, I didn’t see that one coming. After “Forever (Sailing)”, Jordan performed a perfectly imperfect rendition of “Mia” on acoustic guitar (fan capture here) followed by “Adore You” (stream studio version below) which led to the full band re-joining for “Valentine” (see official music video below). Opting to forego an encore, they aptly closed out their 16-song set with “Pristine”.
Snail Mail will be wrapping up their tour with Hotline TNT and Momma in September before hitting some local festivals, including the inaugural Frantic City festival (along with Car Seat Headrest, Yo La Tengo, and more) in Atlantic City on September 24th. They’ll then be joining Turnstile on dates through October – sadly, Snail Mail won’t be playing the Stone Pony Summer Stage date on 10/6 (as far as I can tell). See all of Snail Mail’s upcoming tour dates here and keep scrolling below for more photos from the show.
