Marcy Playground

As I’ve written elsewhere, I’m pretty into the alternative 90’s act “Marcy Playground” whom I regard as being better than their 90’s-nostalgia-playlist heavy song “Sex and Candy.” Around the time I was writing the longform post about their album Shapeshifter, I visited their website and saw that they were going to perform a show in September 2021 after the long freeze occasioned by the COVID pandemic. Ultimately, that show was postponed due to the omicron surge. At long last, my friend Mike and I got to see the band perform in NYC on a frigid Monday night (March 21^st) at Sony Hall in northern Times Square.

Contrary to the angst, topics explored in the songs, and his plaintive laudanum-trip singing voice, John Wozniak and the rest of the band came with tons of energy, were incredibly professional (i.e. they had a tight, practiced setlist), and were really friendly with the audience. They weren’t aloof in the least but all too glad to see some familiar faces showing humor, tenderness, and friendship. I totally dug it.

Sound

Sony Hall’s acoustics and sound system are awesome. I would love to see more shows there. The sound was so good that you could hit record on your iPhone and walk away with something that actually could be listened to again (not that that happened). The reason is that the Blue Note group took over the venue and are applying their time-tested formula: come for dinner, stay for a show with an awesome sound system. While the Blue Note historically drew blues, soul, and jazz performers — whose work benefits from sound systems that deliver range and subtlety — that’s not been the case for rock bands, generally. Sony Hall provides that opportunity. I really hope to see more acts there.

Setlist (Best as I Can Remember)

1. “All the Lights Went Out”
2. “Poppies”
3. “Pigeon Farm”
4. “Rock and Roll Heroes”
5. “Special”
6. “Devil Woman”
7. “Saint Joe on the School Bus”
8. “Rebel Sodville”
9. “Good Times”
10. “Punk Rock Superstar”
11. “Wave Motion Gun”
12. “Everything I Loved”
13. “Sherry Fraser”
14. “Deadly Handsome Man”
15. “The Vampires of New York”
16. “It’s Saturday”
17. “A Cloak of Elvenkind”
18. “Sex and Candy”

Encore

1. “Star Baby”
2. “Secret Squirrel”

Crowd

While the audience was the (expected) graying-dudes from the 90’s, it was refreshing to see a healthy dose of the “No way we’re serving you” crowd. How the heck did the sub-20 set manage to find this niche band after having been born some decade after their commercial high-point? If your “‘rents” were into it in ‘99, you’re at least 23 these days. Lauren says it’s because all culture has temporally flattened: Spotify and Apple music make digitally-recorded music of 20 years ago just as accessible as the most au courant single and, with a super-hit on their history, “Sex and Candy” serves as a link from pretty much every 90’s playlist into the dreamy, lysergic corpus of the band. That seemed keen and likely. All that to say, there were some young folks there.

On top of that, there were some teens who were clearly dismayed to see Mom and Dad having a good time rocking out. But then some of those self-same teens were clearly into bangers like “Secret Squirrel,” so, maybe in spite of themselves, everyone had a good time.

As for Mike and I, being older and wiser, we bought more-expensive tier tickets so we could get a table. We wore ear protection. Our ears did not ring all night and into the morning as once they did. We had the waitstaff bring us quality alcohol versus swill beer. We were definitely the embodiment of experience and wisdom and, in so being, were miles away spiritually from the earliest shows we saw in Houston’s Heights or (later) small venues in Austin (RIP Electric Lounge). But a good show leaves a smile still, and I hope to see them again next tour.