Snail Mail played Central Park SummerStage

Ahead of her upcoming tour as the opening act for Waxahatchee, Snail Mail headlined a free show at Central Park's SummerStage.

"We haven't put out a record in a while so I was nervous when they said we were playing Central Park because I didn't think anyone would show up. We haven't been on tour in a long time either and this is only our second show on this one so thanks a lot for being here." It was a humble opening from Lindsey Jordan, better known under her musical moniker Snail Mail, as she brushed off some nerves and dove into her set. A bit shaky and a tad rusty, Jordan stood front and slightly off-center while her bassist and drummer hid in the shadows behind her giving her tons of space and making the stage look barren in the process. It was strange and a little awkward watching her navigate the set, something that Jordan is very familiar and well versed at by this point in her career, and the lack of energy on stage was apparent all night, so even when she played the hits, things still felt rather flat. Opening with "Heat Wave" let the hype build, but the pay off never really came and the entire set seemed to never really get off the ground, something that once again felt rather strange given the quality of Jordan's catalogue and the fans' desire to rock out. The crunch of the guitar was murky and muddled, never slamming into action like it does on the record which, once again, made everything feel just enough out of reach to fully connect with the crowd. On "Valentine," the killer lead single from her sophomore album of the same name, the song receives an electrifying jolt of distortion that lifts the song into another dimension, but tonight the jolt was muted, like the wind had been knocked out of the band, and what could’ve been an epic moment of euphoric relief instead felt dead on arrival. If anything, the biggest part of the night was her gnarly cover of Oasis' "Supersonic," a song that actually hit with the much needed enthusiasm that the rest of the night had been lacking. Jordan was amped for this one and the band really dug their heels into it as well, but given today's news, how could you blame them? Riding that high, Jordan remarked how she'd been channeling this moment and summoning the band's reunion for quite some time. It was fortunate that the band finally hit this high, however it was a bit too late as Jordan mentioned how the band doesn't perform encores and how this really would be the final tune of the night. Luckily, "Pristine" got the needed injection of adrenaline and really hit with feeling. It was one last shot at redemption and the band succeeded, it was just a bummer that it came during the last song of the night.

Set list:

01 "Heat Wave"
02 "Glory"
03 "Madonna"
04 "Ben Franklin"
05 "Speaking Terms"
06 "Golden Dream"
07 "Thinning"
08 "Automate"
09 "Forever (Sailing)"
10 "Full Control"
11 "Headlock"
12 "Valentine"
13 "Mia" (Solo)
14 "Supersonic" (Oasis cover)
15 "Pristine"