Concert review/photos: Throwing Muses @ Bowery Ballroom (NYC)
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Tanya Donelly reunited with the band for this tour.
[ 3/8 ] Last weekend, Throwing Muses regaled the New York citizenry with their rousing primal rock of the intellect at the Bowery Ballroom. At the sold-out Saturday show, the Muses took the crowd on a ride through their most recent masterpiece, 2013’s 32-track Purgatory/Paradise, and more familiar territory of the past.
For the majority of the show, the group unlocked the brilliance of Purgatory/Paradise. There was a payoff for this inundation of the new: founding member Tanya Donelly, who left the Muses in 1991, reunited with the band for this tour. After playing a stunning opening set of solo material, Belly songs and “Honeychain,” from Throwing Muses’ 1991 album The Real Ramona, Donelly joined band leader Kristin Hersh, drummer David Narcizo and bassist Bernard Georges for the latter bit of the headliner’s main set. As a four piece, they were having lots of fun, smiling and playing classics like “Red Shoes” and “Green.”
Concluding the encore with “Bright Yellow Gun,” Hersh and company left an overjoyed audience with some rousing memories. Though they’re skipping Philly on this short jaunt, one can hope they’ll come around sooner rather than later.
