Lake Street Dive made its triumphant return to NPR Music‘s Tiny Desk Concert series on Tuesday. Given the pandemic, however, the Boston-bred R&B group wasn’t able to just waltz into NPR studios. Instead, Lake Street Dive took the stage at the “biggest little venue in NYC,” Pete’s Candy Store, to dive into the band’s new hit album, Obviously.
Lake Street Dive’s four-song performance consisted entirely of Obviously tracks, opening with the contemplative “Hypotheticals”. The band—comprised of singer Rachel Price, bassist Bridget Kearney, guitarist Mike “McDuck” Olson, drummer Mike Calabrese, and the latest addition in keyboardist Akie Bermiss—barely fit on the stage, though it allowed just enough room for Price to strut her stuff as a commandeering frontwoman.
Moving next into “Same Old News”, Bermiss and Price split vocals as the new keyboardist and co-songwriter showed why he was such a perfect—even necessary—addition for the group. At the halfway point of the show, Price and the gang took a moment to shout out Pete’s Candy Store as well as the Save Our Stages Act, which aims to protect independent venues like Pete’s.
Though it’s unclear when LSD recorded its Tiny Desk, the Save Our Stages Act became known as the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) and was passed as part of the $900 billion stimulus package on December 27th. After a false start earlier this month, the Small Business Administration (SBA) opened SVOG applications on Monday.
With that, the group moved into the downtempo groove of “Anymore”. It seems no coincidence that the song’s opening lyrics, “Same old second chances / Give you time and time again / Same old insufficient answers / Maybe I should just pretend,” came directly after yet another exhausting plea from artists for the federal government to assist the live music industry. The lyrical subtweets of societal failures kept coming as Lake Street Dive closed out the set with “Making Do”, the band’s salute to the rising Gen Zers who are “making do with what you got.”
Watch Lake Street Dive perform Obviously tracks in its latest Tiny Desk Concert appearance.
Lake Street Dive – Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
[Video: NPR Music]
Lake Street Dive recently announced a two-night run of pod concerts at the new Westville Music Bowl venue in New Haven, CT. Tickets are on sale now through the band’s website.