Photo from Nada Surf’s website

In 2006, I put the Nada Surf song “Always Love” on a mix CD for some friends. Due to the personal nature of compiling mixes, the songs therein are inherently more important. Nada Surf’s catalog is filled with songs like “Always Love”: pleasant and inoffensive palate cleansers with sincere lyricism. In succession, it’s easy to tune out, but when those easily singable choruses come on a mix between pop hits and experimental noise, those pleasant indie tunes become unexpected bright spots, imbued with meaning. Audience response indicated that many Nada Surf songs had appeared on many mixes and that their new songs would appear on many more.

As such, Tuesday night’s concert, the last one of their tour, was colored by intimate moments between band and crowd that softened what might have otherwise been the feel of professional rockers doing their job. The band took audience requests ahead of the show (“Hyperspace”) and during it (“Concrete Bed”). Singer Matthew Caws dedicated the opening song of the set to his father who had named their latest album, The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy. In fact, much of Caws’ family was in attendance, including his mother, who was videotaping the show from the balcony. As the audience was peppered with parents who had brought their children (and parents that had left their children at home) the band was getting into the spirit.

Aussie duo An Horse seemed a well-picked opener. Their songs are equally anthemic and generally stuck to the same three major keys. Additionally, the scrappy duo actually admitted to ripping off Nada Surf as they finished their set, filled with songs from last years Walls. What they seemed to have ripped off most clearly from Nada Surf was ownership of the stage and their ability to secure diehard fans. After a female fan requested that singer Kate Cooper have her babies, Cooper affably laughed that once she hit puberty, she’d try her damnedest.

As Nada Surf’s performance went on, they let loose a little more. Touring member and Calexico keyboardist Martin Wenk started to make use of the birdhouse-shaped theremin sitting next to his keyboard and former Guided By Voices guitarist Doug Gillen took the lead for some of the more adventurous guitar solos of the night. However, it was during the three song encore that Nada Surf really demonstrated their emotional hold on the crowd. They invited the audience to two-step and even the folks in the balcony obliged. They blasted through “Always Love” and invited An Horse back up for a rousing rendition of “The Blankest Year.” Nada Surf clearly knew that they were among understanding kindred spirits during the last night of their tour, so fuck it, they were going to have a party.