It’s not Dan Bejar’s fault by any means, but I will forever associate Destroyer with COVID-19. My first-ever Destroyer show was March 9, 2020. Before the show, while I was waiting in line, a friend walked by and he told me he was just getting over the worst case of flu he ever had. This was also the day Rudy Gilbert touched all the mics at his press conference, likely causing him to test positive two days later, shutting down the NBA and soon the country. 

The show itself absolutely blew me away. Bejar was touring with a full band behind Have We Met, a hooky, synth-fueled album that sounded mega in a live setting. I stuck around for half the show before bailing out of an abundance of caution, but my curiosity was piqued and I made a mental note to dig through Destroyer’s back catalog. 

I started with Kaputt, as that’s the one that is seemingly the most well regarded and the one I had seen mentioned the most in the music press. The breezy, orchestral yacht rock struck a chord with me and it’s not an exaggeration to say I listened to that album daily during the resulting shut down. It simultaneously relaxes and thrills me more than any other piece of recorded music, more or less got me through lockdown and is now probably my favorite record ever. 

Naturally, I was beyond excited for his return to the Black Cat in May 2022 behind the excellent Labrynthitis, but ironies of ironies, I couldn’t go because I caught COVID the week before. Thus I missed my second chance to hear “Suicide Demo for Kara Walker” live. 

Luckily everything went smoothly last week when Bejar brought his acoustic guitar and guitarist David Carswell to Union Stage for an intimate affair that had everyone in rapt attention except for the two guys next to me in the front row that talked through the majority of the show. 

Stream Labyrinthitis, the latest album by Destroyer, on Spotify:

I was actually a bit apprehensive about this all acoustic format for the show on April 3. My favorite Destroyer songs are the quote-unquote overproduced variety from the latter half of his career. Basically, my favorite musical genre is Destroyer songs that feature horns. So I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t enjoy these songs being stripped down, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Stripped down to their essence, these songs hit like a ton of bricks and were in many ways more effective. 

Production-wise and visually things couldn’t have been more bare bones. Bejar played a single acoustic guitar all night and only had a setlist, a bottle of water and a glass of wine with him. There was very little chit-chat with the audience, he was simply content to perform and then take a quick bow after every song.  Kaputt songs like “Downtown” and “Chinatown” were carried by Carswell’s restrained electric riffs while abrasive songs like “Trembling Peacock” and “Tintoretto, It’s For You” had their edges softened compared to their recorded versions. The result was undoubtedly one of the best shows I’m going to be lucky enough to see this year.

Setlist:

Helena
A Dangerous Woman Up to a Point
Destroyer’s the Temple
Times Square
Trembling Peacock
Tintoretto, It’s for You
The Sublimation Hour
Downtown
Cue Synthesizer
Your Blood
Painter in Your Pocket
Watercolours Into the Ocean
English Music
Foam Hands
What Road
Don’t Become the Thing You Hated

Encore:
The Crossover
Chinatown

Here are some photos of Destroyer at Union Stage on April 3, 2024. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Kyle Gustafson.