Words & Photos by Saidy Lopez
Magic Man with Panama Wedding at The Bowery Ballroom – March 15, 2015
This was one of the most fun shows I shot this year. Fans were lined up since very early in the day including one girl who had been there since 9:30 am. By the time I got there the venue was pretty packed in.
I had originally requested Saturday’s show at Music Hall of Williamsburg, but the list was full. When I heard I got the Sunday show at Bowery Ballroom instead, I was more than thrilled because Bowery Ballroom is a great venue to experience live music. One of the opening bands, Panama Wedding, who I immediately liked when I saw them two years ago at CMJ, put on a great set. They also played a small part in the evolution of Magic Man. A year ago Magic Man’s Sam Lee responded to an ad that Panama Wedding’s lead singer Peter Kirk had placed on craigslist selling a guitar amp. Sam called saying they were opening for the New Politics at the Bowery Ballroom and needed that amp. “Like all good relationships, ours with Magic Man started on Craigslist,” Peter Kirk told the attentive crowd.
Magic Man played songs off their latest album Before the Waves plus a couple of older songs. For the encore they performed a cover of Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark.” Tigertown and Panama Wedding joined them on stage singing and dancing along just like the crowd. They ended the show with their popular track “Paris.” Alex Caplow has immense stage presence. He works all of the stage and reaches out to the crowd with lots of charm and great energy. He was giving and receiving a lot of love from the pumped New York crowd. Magic Man also brought their own lighting set up, which added to the whole electrifying performance and made it such a sweet visual treat.
Panama Wedding
Fly To Panama
Feels Like Summer
Trust
Into Focus
Uma
Chasing Rainbows
Younger Love
Trial & Error
All Of The People
Magic Man
Setlist:
Waves
Every Day
Apollo
Out of Mind
Nova Scotia
Catherine
Honey
(Unknown) — (New Song)
Tonight
Texas
South Dakota
Chicagoland
It All Starts Here
Encore:
Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen cover)
Paris
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