Bumbershoot Review: The Long Winters Roll Out the New Stuff

Justin Dylan Renney

​Who: The Long Winters
Where: Broad Street Stage
When: 9:30 p.m.

Unexpectedly, The Long Winters unveiled a completely new song halfway through tonight's set. (It was unexpected because the band has been working on a new album for quite some time, but they still weren't playing any new songs as recently as last month, when they headlined Doe Bay Fest.) Lead singer John Roderick introduced the song by joking, "We were taking a hiatus for a while, so Eric and I could grow our hair." Roderick started out a little cautiously, attempting what he described as a "blues jam" on guitar, then stopping, then restarting the song by skipping the opening altogether, saying, "It sounds better on the recording anyway."

The Long Winters then launched a slow pop song with swirling guitars and lyrics about wanting to run away from a relationship but choosing to stay and attempting to find happiness with what you already have instead. The performance was a little rough at times, and the chorus was hard to understand. But the theme of the song came across loud and clear: "Hope, it's got me by the throat," Roderick sang.

When the song was over, he told the audience, "If you videotaped that or are going to blog about it, e-mail me for confirmation first. Or let's just not blog about this. Okay, fine, you can blog about this, but only if you write for Three Imaginary Girls."

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