Saturday night’s Porches/Frankie Cosmos show at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn was the capper of a four-week cross-country tour. Lots of gigs (mostly in the immediate vicinity) have been the M-O for these two bands but the now-completed stretch of dates reached via vehicle no doubt tested their endurance.
Playing every night with only a couple days off, Porches and Frankie Cosmos started out September 19th in Philly and went coast to coast with stops that included far-flung places like Northfield (MN), Fargo, Missoula, Oakland, El Paso and Durham.
Probably not knowing for sure what kind of demand there would be for two tour-ending dates at Baby’s, both Aaron Maine (pictured – above left) and Greta Kline (back turned) were effusive in their appreciation for the large, enthusiastic audience. Both the Friday and Saturday shows ending up selling out. Maine was actually a little punchy as he walked out for the Porches set Saturday night with a jug of low-end whiskey. He rambled between songs – carrying on a bit as he created a vision of a male body part laying on a sound monitor. Kline frowned during the initial banter. None of the Porches sideshow was a big deal though given the greatness of the music.
There were rousing versions of Airport Terminal and Headsgiving. I was hoping for Leather but it didn’t come.
The fog machine was in the on position throughout the Porches set prompting several audience shouts for Fog Dog. That wasn’t happening given Kline’s need to save what little voice she had left for the Frankie set.
Kline drank hot tea on stage in an attempt to revive her scratchy vocal cords but they were shot beyond viability and certainly were not vibrant. A month straight in a van can be rough on the body. The Frankie Cosmos set was abbreviated and I thought the audience showed too much quit by talking during the songs. Kline got big help from keyboardist Gabby Smith who chimed in on spots to supplement Kline’s weak and hurting output. It wasn’t ideal but I felt like the night was a triumph on the whole and I appreciated Kline’s effort to fight through the Frankie set. Frankie closed with Ronnie Ronaldo! As the number wound down, Maine put himself on top of an actual surfboard and caught an audience wave before clunking hard to the ground near the back of the room.
The evening was extra fun because Kize joined us. We did pre-game with dinner at Xixa and then a couple rounds at East River Bar. By chance, Marc’s sister saw us on the street as we exited Baby’s at the end of the night. She drove us to the G train stop at Metropolitan. The G to the E and I was back home in no time.