Earlier this month, I returned to The Waiting Room in Omaha to see MJ Lenderman on his third stop of his 2024 tour with his band, The Wind, and opening support, Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band.
I've been lucky enough to see Wednesday play twice this year, as well as Lenderman in 2023 at Chicago's Pitchfork Music Festival. It's always a unique experience to watch a musician perform in a different context such as Lenderman in Wednesday versus his solo work. Even in Wednesday when he is not the band's focal point, his guitar work is distinguishable and instantly recognizable. It's also interesting to have watched his sky rocket to indie stardom within the last couple of years, but more specifically, the few months following the release of his latest effort, Manning Fireworks.
At Pitchfork Music Festival last year, the crowd to see Lenderman was sizable. Boat Songs had become critically beloved, receiving Best New Music from the publication among other accolades. He was fresh off the release of the track, "Rudolph," his first single with Anti- Records, and the latest Wednesday album, Rat Saw God, was released earlier that spring. Even witnessing that crowd and critical success feels small compared to the love Lenderman has received this year. He received a second Best New Music from Pitchfork and has been compared to the likes of Neil Young and Bill Callahan by The New York Times. "Rudolph" ended up making the track list for the new album. He performed on The Tonight Show in September, and now, I was seeing him live once again.
Truthfully, I don't think I've ever been as close to the stage for a show as I was for Lenderman's performance. I've gone to a lot of shows especially in the last few years, but being as close as I was allowed me to see the intricacies of the band's performance and the synergy that exists between each of its members. It felt a little bit powerful too, to be so close at a show populated by many middle-aged men who hail Lenderman as the new savior of rock music. I certainly felt a sense of community with them that night though.
The lack of a predetermined setlist was hardly noticeable due to the natural timing and flow of each song. Beginning the show with "Joker Lips," "Wristwatch," and "Rudolph," all tracks from the new record, the band played through them succinctly and without much interruption before playing one of the oldest tracks on the setlist, "Inappropriate," from Lenderman's 2021 album, Ghost of Your Guitar Solo. You could tell through the slight banter between members of the band that there was no preconceived order in which the songs would be performed, but that there was a set group of songs to be played, which kept the audience alert. I kept trying to predict which might be next due to a particular guitar tone or steel guitar note.
Photos by Dulce Garcia
While Lenderman didn't banter too much with the audience, he did take a moment to talk about Hurricane Helene's destruction in Asheville, North Carolina, his hometown, and discuss how a portion of merch sales would be donated to local relief funds. While a man of few words, it honestly allowed the music to occupy a larger space and voice, void of additional humor that could potentially detract from the straightforward and sometimes cynical tone of Lenderman's lyricism and its potency. You could tell that there was laser focus existing to ensure the music spoke for itself wholly.
The remainder of the setlist was composed of songs from both Manning Fireworks and Boat Songs, with the titular track of Ghost of Your Guitar Solo thrown in there for good measure. The emotional rift of the room felt so malleable to the songs' dictation, going from heartfelt steel guitar-driven ballads like "TLC Cagematch," and "You Don't Know The Shape I'm In," and switching gears to a more jovial feel for tracks like "Tastes Just Like It Costs." Notably, the magnum opus closer to Manning Fireworks, "Bark At The Moon," was performed, six minutes of feedback and all.
MJ Lenderman, as a musician and performer, is someone whose craft for songwriting and performing will only become better with time as he continues to create songs that have united both young and old rock fans alike. His knack for writing about daily hardships and troubles and spinning them into harmonious songs about how meaningful, shitty, and humorous those troubles can be all at once, is what makes his music so great. The heaviest feelings existed within his performance, but also the beautiful refrain of, "I love drinking too!" If you aren't allowed to laugh when things feel a little difficult, what else can you do?