The New Pornographers bring a wall of indie pop sound to Union Transfer

The New Pornographers | photo by Josh Pelta-Heller for WXPN

Indie-pop fans filled the Union Transfer to capacity on Thursday night.

Not to be outdone, The New Pornographers filled the stage to capacity too, with their signature small army of musicians. Dispensing with stage banter, for the most part, vocalists Neko Case and AC Newman led their chorus of five additional vocalists — almost everyone on stage save bassist John Collins had a mic — through a career-spanning set of songs cherry-picked from all seven of their records.

Having only been released about three weeks prior, Whiteout Conditions was represented with half a dozen cuts, including the show opener “High Ticket Attractions,” a song Newman recently said was written about “Trump anxiety” and more relevant for him now than before the election, when it was composed. Then again, to that end “Fake Headlines” was written in the late ‘90s, and by some measures lately might be called downright prophetic.

Notably absent was guitarist Dan Bejar, apparently sidetracked through the recording of their record and tour by his work with Destroyer. Notably present are the vocal and electric violin contributions of (relative) newcomer to their lineup, Simi Stone.

In a sharp contrast to the maximalist productions of the Pornographers, they’re hosting on this tour Philly’s Waxahatchee. Playing currently in support of her upcoming new record Out In The Storm, frontwoman Katie Crutchfield pared down her band, her richly amplified guitar and vox augmented that evening only by Katherine Simonetti’s urgent and thundering basslines.

Check out a gallery of photo from both bands’ sets below, and check out The New Pornographers’ setlist.

Setlist
High Ticket Attractions
Laws Have Changed
Twin Cinema
Moves
Colosseums
Dancehall Domine
Fake Headlines
Whiteout Conditions
Champions of Red Wine
Old Show Stoppers
World Of The Theater
Backstairs
Testament To Youth In Verse
Sing Me Spanish Techno
Play Money
Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk
Avalanche Alley
Mass Romantic

Encore:
Challenger
Brill Bruisers
Bleeding Heart Show