On July 13, 2010 Steel Train returned to Atlanta to play for a small, but enthusiastic, crowd at the Drunken Unicorn.
Just the day before the band had an experience that most bands can only dream of achieving. They had driven from Florida to New York to perform on Late Show with David Letterman and then immediately drove all the way back to the south. But exhaustion didn’t keep them from giving Atlanta all they had, and they played just as hard as the night before when they were trying to win the favor of four million people across the nation.
This was one of the last stops on their headlining tour promoting the recent release of the self titled full length album. Steel Train has been playing together for years, but with this new record comes a new sense of maturity. Jack Antonoff's voice has become more polished and the musicianship on stage has become more professional. The fun-loving group of friends that used to play were entertaining, but the devotion to the new songs was impressive.
Steel Train was self-recorded, self-released, and self-financed after the band dropped Drive-Thru Records last year. All the effort to get the music out seemed to create an attachment to the new songs that is both visible in the live performance and audible in the recordings. Each song is an adventure. They are the kind of songs that you want connected to your next major memory. “Fall Asleep” will mend many broken hearts and “You and I Undercover” will set many hearts aflutter with the excitement of new romance.
There are no scheduled return dates yet, but I highly recommend attending the next Steel Train concert if you can. Check out some photos from Steel Train's show at Variety Playhouse with Tegan and Sara earlier this year, here.
Chloe Stoakes
