THE VEILS
SEPTEMBER 10, 2007
THE BOWERY BALLROOM, NYC
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY RYAN MUIR

The Veils performance tonight at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City was the last of the band's tour of the US. Supporting the band's latest album Nux Vomica, first released in the US earlier this summer, the US leg of their tour had started three months previously at the Mercury Lounge just down the street. A show which, judging by their enthusiastic response, many of the members of the audience had attended.

The material however had been first released in the UK in the summer of 2006, making-- for the band-- some of this material quite practiced. Despite this, their set at the Ballroom managed to avoid sounding overly-rehearsed and captured a certain freshness by varying their focus on some older fan-favorite songs from previous LP The Runaway Found with rousing versions of their new songs "Jesus for the Jugular" and set closer "Not Yet".

Coming back on stage for an encore, lead singer Finn Andrews celebrated the completion of the US tour by donning a pair of Star-Spangled Banner pants, and announcing, much to the delight of the audience, that the woman who sold him the pants recommended washing them with his whites because "these colors don't run". It was easy to tell that the band was enjoying themselves in spite of, or perhaps because of reaching the end of a long leg of their tour, as throughout the night they were clearly seen smiling in between songs, and earnestly enjoying themselves on stage to the point where at the very end of the set Andrews positioned himself for one last rock-star gesture only to jump headlong into drummer Henning Dietz's kit. This assured, at the very least, if the band was to return to the States any time soon, they might want to turn some of their newfound popularity into some un-trampled equipment.