Low Cut Connie’s Free At Noon barnburner

Perennial WXPN favorite Low Cut Connie put on a clinic for those unfamiliar with good old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll Friday at Ardmore Music Hall, and the sold-out crowd was eating up their throwback tunes.

Marking LCC’s third Free At Noon, the Friday show was jam-packed with fans eager to start the long Labor Day Weekend with a bang.

The band emerged first, then frontman and founder Adam Weiner took the stage to much fanfare from the crowd. They played “WHIPS & CHAINS” from the 2023 album ART DEALERS first and Weiner didn’t hold back despite the performance’s early call time.

He tapped the crowd’s energy with a call-and-response moment, which riled them up even more.

They played a cover of Bobby Byrd’s “I Know You Got Soul” before going into “Little Freakers” from the band’s latest album, Livin in the USA, which—along with Weiner’s outward political stances—earned them a spot to perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live! earlier this month.

Weiner thanked his fans for standing with him in the face of scrutiny after he pulled the band from the Kennedy Center’s performance schedule and was critical of the Trump Administration.

“Once in a while, you gotta get into good trouble,” he said, with audience members affirming his words and ideology, before playing the album’s title track. The song laments the world Weiner sees around him, people struggling with housing insecurity and families being ripped apart.

After a short mid-set break, Weiner introduced “Can’t Be Wrong,” also from the new record, as the song of the summer, swinging back toward the fun-loving side of Low Cut Connie and garnering a major pop from those in attendance.

Keeping the focus on the new album, the band served up “Oh Yeah” next, with Weiner saying the song is about the weirdest haircut he’s ever gotten.

“Let Me Speak to Bobby,” which NPR mused was possibly about Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Weiner forsook the stage and got into the crowd, dancing with fans before making his way to the bar, which he briefly used as a pulpit while belting the lyrics. He made his way back to the stage to do his signature single-legged stand on his piano bench.

Their penultimate song was “Rio” from 2011’s Get out the Lotion, and that’s when Weiner tore his undershirt like a professional wrestler on a turnbuckle, hamming it up for the fervent fans.

For their encore, Low Cut Connie played “Dirty Water” from the 2017 album Dirty Pictures (Part 1). For this song, guitarist Kelsey Cork rocked the saxophone, Weiner ripped a piano solo, and guitarist Rich Stanley shredded a solo to close out the show.

The band is scheduled to play Sept. 12 at The Room at Cedar Grove in Lewes, Delaware as part of the Delaware Beaches Songwriters Festival. See their full touring schedule here.