Written by: Geoff Tischman
I’m not a big New Year’s Eve guy so seeing Deer Tick three days before the year ended was the perfect way for me to button up 2019.
Playing the Brooklyn Bowl on December 29, the Rhode Island outfit tore through a nearly thirty song set culled from their eight album discography. Comprised of frontman John J. McCauley, guitarist Ian O’Neil, bassist Chris Ryan and drummer Dennis Ryan, Deer Tick are one of the best live bands around.
McCauley commands the stage with scruffy charisma and whether he was helming numbers like “Mange” or “Look How Clean I Am,” every moment was pure gold.
The band’s take on Ben Vaughn’s “Too Sensitive For This World” was an unexpected surprise; “The Bump” was played with captivating charm and the set-closing “Ashamed” was exhaustively perfect.
Deer Tick Set List:
- Don’t Hurt
- The Dream’s in the Ditch
- Me and My Man
- SMF
- Main Street
- Art Isn’t Real (City of Sin)
- Look How Clean I Am
- I Got a Rocket in My Pocket
- Hey! Yeah!
- Cocktail
- Hope Is Big
- Christ Jesus
- The Rock
- Twenty Miles
- Baltimore Blue No. 1
- Clownin’ Around
- The Bump
- Easy
- Tiny Fortunes
- Too Sensitive For This World
- Jumpstarting
- Mange
- Let’s All Go To The Bar
- These Old Shoes
- Ashamed
