When tickets went on sale in October for MJ Lenderman's performance in Ottawa, the North Carolina musician was riding a wave of goodwill. His fourth solo LP, Manning Fireworks, was earning near-unanimous acclaim, while a sold-out show at Toronto's Lee's Palace created a buzz around his live band, the Wind. Lenderman and the five-piece outfit were still coasting on that momentum when they finally made their long-awaited debut in the nation's capital six months later, playing to a packed house of 900 eager fans.
Kicking off the night was Chicago bedroom pop project This is Lorelei, the brainchild of Nate Amos, guitarist for Water from Your Eyes. Welcomed with much love from the growing crowd, the quartet ripped through nine of the 10 tracks from their critically lauded album Box for Buddy, Box for Star, while the initiated gleefully sang along.
Made up of musicians stepping outside their primary instruments, the Wind that joined Lenderman on stage had Friendship bassist/keyboardist Jon Samuels on guitar, Wednesday bassist Ethan Baechtold on keys, avant-garde drummer Landon George on bass, Styrofoam Winos multi-instrumentalist Trevor Nikrant on pedal steel, and solo artist Colin Miller handling the drums.
Sporting a close-cropped haircut and a worn Thomas Dolby T-shirt, Lenderman steered his band through noisy and stretched-out renditions of "Joker Lips" and "Wristwatch," before testing the audience's knowledge of his back catalogue with "You Have Bought Yourself a Boat" and "TLC Cage Match." Easing into a mini-set he dubbed his "theme park songs," he wedged a cover of Drive-By Truckers frontman Patterson Hood's "Uncle Disney" between his own "Toontown" and "Six Flags."
Reviving the crowd, the band launched into the lead single from Manning Fireworks, "She's Leaving You," before shifting into "Rip Torn," which saw George trade his bass for a fiddle. Addressing the audience for the first time, Lenderman apologized and explained that he needed to step away to use the washroom, reintroducing the Wind as "the Turkey Brothers," who filled the gap with an impromptu jam, featuring George adopting a Southern drawl for hilarious spoken-word vocals.
Wrapping up the evening with the remainder of Manning Fireworks, the band delivered a largely inward-looking performance, with the musicians lost in their secondary instruments rather than hyping the crowd — until Lenderman finally broke the barrier with the jaunty 2023 single "Knockin," leading an honest-to-goodness call-and-response. Returning for an encore, he talked about his love for Canada and hope that Canadians will soon "feel safe again," before moving into a fitting rendition of Neil Young's "Lotta Love."
Closing out their nearly two-hour set, Lenderman brought out Amos for a cover of This Is Lorelei's "Dancing in the Club," capping off a night that found the indie rock it boy favouring curiosity and craft over flash or posturing. If you're tuned into Lenderman's world beyond the shower of sparks the success of Manning Fireworks has sent flying, it's sonically unpredictable and nerdy, but it's one hell of a ride.