Up until last night, the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart hadn't played a show since our head honcho Scott Lapatine's birthday party in 2018. The following year, frontman Kip Berman ended the band to focus on other projects. But the Brooklyn indie pop icons are about to head to Europe for a run of tour dates celebrating 15 years of their now-classic self-titled debut, and as a little warm-up, they did a "surprise" set Monday night at Trans-Pecos in Queens.
The gig was announced about a day in advance with "Men With Ven" billed as the headliner. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart did a bit too good of a job keeping it a secret, so they went ahead and posted about the show on Instagram soon after. I was there, and this 250-capacity room was packed to the absolute brim. The floor shook! Someone crowdsurfed!
Pains played their self-titled front to back, with some songs like "Hey Paul" and "Gentle Sons" getting their first plays in over a decade. For the encore, they dusted off some B-sides from the era that also appear on their recent Slumberland compilation: "Side Ponytail," "Ramona," and the closing "The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart." Watch some clips and see the setlist below.
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SETLIST:
"Contender"
"Come Saturday"
"Young Adult Friction"
"This Love Is Fucking Right!"
"The Tenure Itch"
"Stay Alive"
"Everything With You"
"A Teenager in Love"
"Hey Paul"
"Gentle Sons"
ENCORE:
"Side Ponytail"
"Ramona"
"The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart"
