The Mooney Suzuki played Union Pool

The garage rock revivalist revived themselves to play their album Electric Sweat in-full at Brooklyn's Union Pool.

"This is the Mooney Suzuki Electric Sweat Electric Revue" shouted Sammy James Jr, the wild and eccentric frontman and guitarist for the Mooney Suzuki, as the band took the stage in front of stoked crowd at the intimate Union Pool. With extreme temperatures blanketing the city, it was a steamy night full of high-energy rock and roll and the band powered through with a striking vengeance, never once giving in to the heat or the years that have passed since the album's release. It was the band's first show in four years and only their third in the past decade, but inside Union Pool it felt like 2002 all over again when bluesy rock and rock was making a comeback in full swing. Along with their more popular peers in The Strokes, Moldy Peaches, Interpol, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Mooney Suzuki helped revitalize the New York City rock scene at the start of the millennium and clearly inspired so many acts that have followed in their wake (looking at you Parquet Courts) and seeing them reconnect with an audience that still was deeply committed to their songs was inspiring. The band launched their mega-charged riffs and killer solos and took to the crowd to unleash their effortless style and coolness rocking out right in the middle of their fans, making for a rowdy night of pure rock energy. "Oh Sweet Susanna" was a moody tune that hit hard and got the crowd singing back to the band and "It's Not Easy" was another solid jam full of their typical swagger. Throughout the night, the band carried on their schtick with perfect precision, never falling out of character or removing the aviators from James Jr's eyes. Hair was flying with each high-octane riff. They ended their main set with a cover of the song from School of Rock, which I later had to verify and check was a song they actually wrote for the movie, and brought some friends on stage to help deliver the different vocal parts and then they returned for a few more hits from their career. Clearly the fame that found their contemporaries never caught on with this band, but they proved in full earnest that Electric Sweat is still a killer album that represents the scene almost as well as some of the bigger records of the time and one not to sleep on when revisiting the past.

Set list:

01 "It's Showtime, Part 1"
02 "Electric Sweat"
03 "In a Young Man's Mind"
04 "Oh Sweet Susanna"
05 "A Little Bit of Love"
06 "It's Not Easy"
07 "Natural Fact"
08 "It's Showtime, Part 2"
09 "I Woke Up This Mornin'"
10 "The Broken Heart"
11 "Electrocuted Blues"
12 "School of Rock"
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13 "And Begin"
14 "Turn My Blue Sky Black"
15 "Your Love is A Gentle Whip (with And Begin reprise)"
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16 "It's Showtime, Part 1"
17 "Yeah You Can"