If you’ve read my review of The War On Drugs’ 2017 masterpiece A Deeper Understanding you’ll know where we’re going with this review. I love these guys in a pretty monumental way, for the approach they’ve taken to bring back guitar-driven heartland Americana rock into the 21st century. I simply can’t get enough of them.
There’s something mythical in the way The War on Drugs approach performance, both in their studio efforts as well as their live performances (as the name would suggest LIVE DRUGS contains the latter). It’s almost as if each song is a weathered photograph slowly developing in real time, colors bleeding into each other until memory and moment become somewhat indistinguishable. LIVE DRUGS captures this beautifully, not as a perfect snapshot, but as a moving image of a band in constant evolution. Adam Granduciel’s songwriting has always chased the space that exists between two things—the fade-out of headlights in fog, the echo of a door shutting behind you—and these live recordings give that in-between feeling a pulsing, cinematic weight. And when Granduciel stops singing and the band takes over, stretching songs into widescreen slow-burning epics that drone on and on, things get pretty f***ing majestic. These moments are the sonic embodiment of where nostalgia breaks into something ecstatic and tangible. It’s the sound of Americana not preserved under glass but reanimated on stage, shaped by breath, improvisation, and the momentum of shared experience. It’s the sound of being alive.
What LIVE DRUGS makes clear is that The War on Drugs thrives on unpredictability and reinvention. You can hear it in the muscular presence of Dave Hartley’s bass, the grounding warmth of Jon Natchez’s baritone sax, and the percussive conviction of drummer Charlie Hall. Granduciel sings with a grit that’s less polished than on record, but more human, like he’s letting the weight of the crowd carry some of the story. And when the crowd finally sings back—nonsensical, wordless joy like during the guitar hook from “Under the Pressure”—it sounds like believers taking communion at the altar of rock and roll.
Standout Songs: Just Listen to the whole damn thing
