Mates of State on the This American Life Tour

This American Life, a popular weekly radio show broadcasted on NPR, kicked off their tour last night with a show at Lincoln Center's Avery Fischer Hall. Hosted by Ira Glass, the show had four different acts, with the "house" band being indie rockers Mates of State. TAL is on tour to support their new television show which is set to premiere on March 22nd on Showtime.

The show opened with MoS singing a new song that seemed to be written for the theme of the show, which was "What I Learned from Television." After they performed, Ira Glass came onstage to introduce the show and explain a little bit about what this tour was all about. About a year ago, Showtime greenlighted 6 episodes of a show based on the TAL radio broadcast and two weeks ago, they wrapped up production on those episodes.

The first act of the night was a reading by Sarah Vowell on how sitcoms inaccurately display 17th century history in America, particularly the interaction between the Pilgrims and Indians. Which is to say, Sarah read about what we DIDN'T learn from television. After Sarah's reading, Jonathan Goldstein did a reading on what Barney Rubble must feel like being Fred Flintstone's friend. It was a modern tongue-in-cheek reinterpretation of an old TV show. Next up was Dan Savage, reading about what he learned from television while growing up, which was to not be the kind of gay man (or "swish," as he called it) that cruised in the park whilst walking his poodle. Although, he did admit that he currently has a poodle and does indeed walk it in a popular cruising park in Seattle.

After the first act, MoS performed a song that I can't remember. My memory is tainted by the fact that all I can remember is Kori Gardner's keyboard sounding fucked up, but she didn't have any time to fix it like she would in a normal show. That brings me to the fact that this was a weird setting for the band, but they did a good job at picking out an appropriate set for the type of audience the show had. They played mostly slow or mid-tempo songs, resulting in a more subdued Mates of State.

Other songs in their set were "Like You Crazy" (from their latest album Bring It Back), a short 59 second rendition of "Goods" (for the interlude section of the TAL broadcast), their cover of The OC theme song "California" (MP3 below), and their cover of Jackson Brown's "These Days."

Mates of States - California (MP3)





A highlight of the show was when Ira Glass was sitting at his desk, admitting to the audience that not only does he watch and like The OC, but he and his wife sing "California" at the top of their lungs every time they watch it. Aww.

Below is a trailer of the TAL show on Showtime.



As you can see, the cinematography is beautiful and they pretty much cover the same things they do on the radio show, just now with moving images. Watch it March 22nd on Showtime.

And catch the rest of the tour if you can:

Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - Boston, MA
Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - Minneapolis, MN
Thursday, March 1, 2007 - Chicago, IL
Wednesday, March 7, 2007 - Seattle, WA
Monday, March 12, 2007 - Los Angeles , CA