Lake Street Dive Gambled With 'Side Pony,' And Won
Lake Street Dive really, really loves playing close to your face.
Though the pop quartet is more accustomed to selling out Central Park and playing to screaming crowds at Bonnaroo and Boston Calling these days, they made a point to book a handful of gigs last fall that brought them through the tiny venues they frequented while cutting their teeth. This run of shows—dubbed the Memory Lane Tour—had them playing the Lizard Lounge, a homey, Persian carpet-clad basement spot steps from Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and the Rockwood Music Hall, one of Manhattan’s most intimate rooms with a reputation for supporting rising talent. In both venues, artists can literally reach out and touch someone from behind their instruments: These spots are so small that personal space is a luxury, and fans, more often than not, have to watch their elbows while dancing so as not to bump a singer’s mic stand.
That up-in-your-business closeness is why Lake Street Dive booked this Memory Lane Tour in the first place: They wanted to get back to the stages that felt like home, because they wanted to play their new songs—the songs that would eventually make up Side Pony, their highest-stakes album yet out now—for rooms full of familiar faces.
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