Ted Leo/Pharmacists @McCarren Pool 8/12/07

Having turned the big THREE OH the day before, I was in pretty desperate need of a hot will to live injection this past Sunday. The McCarren Pool Party shows have become a sort of ritual for me and about 3000 other regulars this summer, though after a late arrival and subsequent shunning at Blonde Redhead the week before, I had little hopes of painlessly getting in after 5pm. Low and behold, at 5:10 there was essentially no line and I entered to the decaying barre chords of The Thermals' last song, meaning Ted Leo and the Pharmacists were up next.

Little background here. In 2001 I could not stop raving about Ted and company. Best record/shows of the year for me. But the following five years of inferior records and flabbier incarnations of the live band left me hollow and reminiscing over one magical night at Brownies where I saw one of the best rock shows of my life. I knew James Canty (The Make Up) had rejoined the band on second guitar for this tour, so I was psyched.

First off, Ted comes out wearing a fucking Econochrist tee shirt. YES! Econochrist was an amazing hardcore band from the late 80s early 90s Gilman scene in California. I'm a sucker for Ted's not so subliminal nods to the hardcore scene of old, and in the context of such a hipster ground zero it was a pretty rad gesture. The band killed it, ripping through an excellently paced set list pulling equally from each record. Even the newer, more cruising numbers were played ferocious, hungry, and desperate; the way Ted's songs sound best. Canty's kinetic guitar was certainly the secret ingredient that had been missing of late, and their combined crunch was at times a little more AC/DC than Clash. Which is fine with me. About halfway in the drummer de-layered revealing a classic Dead Kennedy's shirt underneath. YES! I thought the integrity-meter was going to bust. At one point a bikini clad girl ran out from sidestage, hellbent on grinding a few Pharms. Ted obliged.

In the outro to that "its alright, its alright, its alright" song Ted busts into a soulful vocal from Daft Punk's "One More Time" that underscored the sunshine and beach ball vibe of the day. Ted announced that it was bassman Dave Lerner's final show with the band and suddenly the fever pitch of the set made a new kind of sense. The last song of the set was a hypnotic verse/explosive chorus anthem I did not recognize, but later learned was a Chumbawamba cover. My heart swelled as the entire entire pool chanted in unison, "I never gave up! I never gave up! I crawled in the mud but I never gave up!" The band encored with two of the best tunes from Tyranny; the seminal "Biomusicology" followed by the bombastic dropped D crusher "Stove By A Whale". Absolutely sick and inspiring.