Nada Surf @ Metro (10/14/2005)

Nada Surf has managed to perserve its one hit wonder tag to quietly go about making a career, maintaining a visibility with records and tours that has kept the band rolling along for ten years. The band filled up Metro on a Friday night to share its fourth album, The Weight Is A Gift, with an eager audience that has steadily remained at the band's side.

As quickly as people paid attention to Nada Surf back in 1996 with the single "Popular" they soon went on to the next buzz band. In 2005, the trio out of Brooklyn has gone from being the flavor of the month to a well-respected group among the indie rock circle. The success of "Popular" was both a blessing and a curse; marginalizing the band and casting a shadow on their debut album High/Low. From that point, the band soldiered on with The Proximity Effect (1998) and the critically acclaimed pop nugget Let Go (2002). Though the band's skills in the studio have matured, their performance at Metro lacked an edge that could reveal another dimension not heard on record.

It's a reversal of the classic case of a band sounding better on stage than on record. Nada Surf is in touch with the whimsical and the melodic, elements that serve as strengths for the band. Opening with "Blizzard Of '77," it was amazing to think that this was the same band which wrote "Popular." The acoustic tune turned electric did not lose its softness as singer/guitarist Matthew Caws lingered on the lines, "I miss you more than I knew." From the melancholy to the sunny, "Concrete Bed" gave the first of many introductions to the new record. Drummer Ira Elliot, dressed like some cast member off of 70s TV show The Love Boat, was brisk and steady as he and bassist Daniel Lorca powered the song along.

The trio was solid throughout the night but never quite surpassed the level of greatness. The band sprinkled their newest songs by sometimes separating them with two older songs in between. This made for a choppy show where the pace would spike up and down as if teasing the crowd that some build up was in the making. What was apparent with these pockets of songs was how criticism of Nada Surf as a lackluster band in concert could be viewed as valid. "Hi-Speed Soul" brought the crowd to a bounce and "Always Love" hit the nail on the head with a crunching punch. But the effect of that one-two combo was soon deflated by the dreamlike "Killian's Red." It just seemed as if there was no real direction in place for the night. Not even the band's best songs could set the show straight. "Inside Of Love," quite possibly the strongest song of the band's catalog, carried Nada Surf into a light that it had faded in and out of all night, that of a band more than just average. Immediately following that magic, the band chose the most absolute sleeper of a song that could have caused the show to backpedal. The French sung "La Pour Ca" by Lorca simply killed the pop spell Nada Surf mustered up to perfection. Once again the tempo was shot; "Blankest Year" kicked up a shuffle but then "Meow Meow Lullabye" (a kitten's dream of becoming a cat) brought things to a stand still. "The Way You Wear Your Head" salvaged the set enough to even desire an encore. Surely they could deliver a knockout set to complete the night?

Instead of a blood rush, Nada Surf relaxed the crowd with "Your Legs Grow" and "Blonde On Blonde." It was nearly eleven o'clock on this Friday night and Nada Surf was keeping the crowd from a release. "Imaginary Friends" seemed to capture the unsteady evening, speeding up only to downshift gears into the slowest of tempos and then back again; this was all in the same song. Finally, the band flexed more power than they had done all night with their closing songs. Having been hungry for the band to really floor them, "Stalemate" probably got some in the crowd licking their lips in sheer excitement with its high octane beat. Lorca's bass soon signaled a metamorphosis as he began playing the riff to Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart." The band pulled off the move, something it has done before at previous shows. It was an ace they had yet to use and wisely saved. As Nada Surf lunged into "Hyperspace," the edge that had eluded them at various points of the show emerged. Why that aspect of its more rock driven songs couldn't adapt to the band's quieter, mid-tempo songs was really an issue that maybe no one inside Metro could lay a finger on. To some, it was Nada Surf being Nada Surf and that was alright. To others, Nada Surf realizes the doors they are opening at this point of the band's career but can't decide on what to do when inside. It's a matter of if and when Nada Surf become the complete package.

All Photos By: Chris Castaneda