Nada Surf @ The Nomad

Playing a free acoustic set at a small Minneapolis bar as a part of the band’s ongoing promotional tour, two thirds of the one-time one-hit-wonders delivered a few new tracks in addition to a handful of old favorites.

Asking around before the show it became obvious that the majority of opinions leaned towards knowing the band only from its 1996 narrative hit “Popular,” but all the same the small college bar was packed by the time the singer/guitarist Matthew Caws and drummer Ira Elliot took the stage. Both sitting amidst the bar’s dim lighting, Caws with his guitar and Elliot sitting atop his drum box, the band joked around, talked to the audience and introduced new songs such as “Whose Authority,” one of the ten new tracks on the band’s upcoming release Lucky.

The hour long set took a turn toward the absurd when the duo broke into the band’s historical children’s song, the “Meow Meow Lullaby.” For those unfamiliar with the song, its lyrics go something to the effect of “Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow. Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow.” Maybe it wasn’t something I had anticipated as highly as say, a blazing acoustic version of “The Plan” (my all time favorite song by the band), but it was fun, upbeat and really captured the spirit of the evening. Hopefully when the complete Nada Surf returns to town with What Made Milwaukee Famous in April however they play a broader selection of tracks, showing those who still only know of them because of a decade old single exactly what they’ve been missing out on all this time.

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