Will Toledo’s 8-year-old musical project Car Seat Headrest continues to expand its live sound on the latest tour with a new seven-piece supergroup including members of Naked Giants. The Leesburg, Virginia based group sold out a 900+ room at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, NC last weekend filled with screaming fans and alternative / punk rock fans of all kinds. With the addition of three new members, the group was also excited to debut reworked tracks off the 2018 reworked release of the 2011 album Twin Fantasy.
Car Seat Headrest (CSH) took the stage as Will Toledo sat down behind the electric keys on the front right side of the stage. The band opened with an experimental introduction of “The Ending of Dramamine” followed by a Lou Reed cover of “Waves of Fear”. After things settled in, CSH turned it up a notch and sounded significantly louder on their third song in “Bodys” off the 2018 re-recording of Twin Fantasy. I really enjoyed the upbeat, punk rock based attitude put behind this song and as well as others off the re-worked album. This song immediately brought the energy up in the room up.
I spoke with a mother mid 40’s who brought her 13-year old daughter to the show. Her daughter is obsessed with Car Seat Headrest and knows every word to every song. Her mother caught my attention when she said this was her and her daughter’s third Car Seat Headrest show and how she loved that each live experience was unique and totally different that the previous ones.
The most notable different between this show and previous ones is the addition of three new members including members from Naked Giants which allowed Will Toledo to step back from guitar and embracing the role as front man of the band focusing on vocals and entertaining dance moves.
Other notable tracks preformed were “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales” off the 2016 album Teens of Denial and a Neil Young / Crazy Horse cover of “Sober to Death / Powderfinger”. The band closed out with another one of my favorite tracks off the re-worked album Twin Fantasy “Nervous Young Inhumans” and followed that up with an encore performance of “Beach Life-In-Death”.
Car Seat Headrest finishes off their run of North American tour dates with two-nights at The Showbox in Seattle, Washington on October 12 & 13, 2018 before heading across the Atlantic for a string of European show dates starting on November 3, 2018 in Amiens, France. The European tour will include shows in Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium and the UK through November 17, 2018.
