The The: Listening and Dancing
Words by Mickey McCarter
Photos by Nalinee Darmrong
The The returned to American shores for the first time since 2018 and in their most expansive tour since 1999. Moreover, it was frontman Matt Johnson’s first DC-area performance since 1993, as best I can reckon.
And so The The’s recent performance at The Anthem in DC afforded me the first time ever to see Matt live, and frankly I was gobsmacked by the beauty and the thoughtfulness of the performance.
Matt Johnson is an accomplished and insightful songwriter, able to elevate subtle strands of feeling into fully meditative rumination on our very existence. He is leading The The on a USA tour in support of Ensoulment, an appropriate title as the word means the “moment at which a human or other being gains a soul.” At The Anthem on Oct. 14, Matt stirred a similar awakening in his audience, awash in poetic lyrics and fully realized instrumentation.
The experience was elevated by Matt Johnson’s handpicked The The players, whom he recruited in 2018 and make for a powerful band. First, Matt was accompanied by the mind-blowing guitarist Barrie Cadogan, revered among my colleagues for his output as leader of Little Barrie. (He’s also a songwriting partner on Ensoulment.) Behind Matt and Barrie sat DC Collard, a masterful keyboardist. To *his* right was drummer Earl Harvin, a man steeped in jazz. Rounding out the quintet was bassist James Eller, who has deep experience playing across many musical styles.
Now, Collard, Harvin, and Eller all have toured with Matt Johnson in The The previous to 2018 as well, and he was wise to retain them! At The Anthem, the ensemble played through the entirety of Ensoulment, which Matt called “the listening part” of the show. After an intermission, they returned for another set of 13 songs from previous The The albums PLUS a two-song encore.
The first set grabbed and held our attention with deeply introspective numbers performed with self-possessed confidence — numbers like the new album’s “Some Days I Drink My Coffee by the Grave of William Blake.” Matt explained that he wrote many early The The songs in a beloved flat, which he did not know at the time was actually positioned by a graveyard containing Blake’s final resting place.
Watch the official music video for “Some Days I Drink My Coffee by the Grave of William Blake” by The The on YouTube:
After sitting (yes it was a seated show) patiently for the first set, the very full house was ready to break out of their seats for the second seat. I was moved by the amount of love for The The in the room, particularly throughout this second set. There was a time period or flavor of The The for everyone, it seemed, and the audience was not shy about shouting out requests for their particular favorites.
Most of those interests were handily met by the selection of songs in the second set. The The picked songs from The The’s previous five studio albums (Ensoulment is technically studio album No. 6 and the first in 25 years) as well as Matt Johnson solo album Burning Blue Soul.
Dusk (1993) received preferential treatment with four selections, including a moving performance of “Slow Emotion Replay,” which friends told me was quite different than the version featuring Johnny Marr, and “Lonely Planet,” which closed the set.
Soul Mining (1983), the incredible The The album that drew my attention to Matt, also received its due with another four selections in the set. All of them drew the crowd’s rapt attention, beginning with “The Sinking Feeling” early in the second set and “This Is the Day” late in the set. The encore included the two most highly anticipated Soul Mining songs of the evening: “Uncertain Smile” and “GIANT.”
Like me, perhaps you discovered Matt Johnson because of this debut The The album; I certainly did so as a kid who could not get enough of British New Wave. These immersive songs were something a little different, however, and Matt Johnson always remained distinct and mysterious in part because he was nominally still available to audiences and yet somehow still out of reach. My perception was finally altered by Tuesday night’s show, and I now I see him as a potently intellectual and effective frontman who was born to the stage.
Watch The The play “Uncertain Smile” live in 1990 via YouTube:
So stunned was I by the depth and quality of the performance that I am a bit resentful that Matt hasn’t toured The The in the USA more often. Indeed, I hope that Matt is moved enough by the success of his current tour to commit to a late-career campaign of conquering North American stages. We would be richer people for it!
The The remain in North America through Nov. 8, when they wrap the North American Ensoulment Tour in Los Angeles. Go see them for a fulfilling and elevating concert experience.
Here are some photos of The The performing at The Anthem on Oct. 14, 2024. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Nalinee Darmrong.
