Car Seat Headrest are back! And at their tour opener at The Anthem Saturday night, the band that started in Northern Virginia made their return to an enthusiastic sold-out crowd.
It’s an understatement to call the journey back from 2020’s Making a Door Less Open to their just released thirteenth album, The Scholars a roller coaster. The last time I saw Car Seat Headrest was also at The Anthem and right after things started opening back up after the start of Covid. After that show, Will Toledo – front person and creative lead – would be affected by and start on his long road through Long Covid and related health concerns. The result would lead eventually into a sort of conceptual record that took as much from lush 1970’s rock as it does from the sound of bands like The Talking Heads.
As an admitted fan of the band, listening to The Scholars, I couldn’t help but feel this is the culmination of 15 years of experience. Of the nine tracks on the album, four exceed eight minutes with “Planet Desperation” being about 19 minutes itself. The songs are intricate and unfold over the span of the hour-plus run time.
Over the years Car Seat Headrest’s music has taken on more of a “must be heard live” feel, and The Scholars is no different. In fact, it may be the most live-ready (for lack of a better word) record, begging for the big stage treatment. The Masquerade Tour of 2022 had some of the band in masks — Toledo donning the gas mask like visage of his character, Trait — but this time it was a more back to basics set up but the show at DC’s The Anthem was by no means basic.
After a brilliant set by the Boston-based three-piece Vundabar, Toledo, Ethan Ives (guitar/vocals), Andrew Katz (drums), and Seth Dalby (bass) with Ben Roth on keyboards took the stage silhouetted against a purple sheet of light.
In the midst of the first song, “CCF (I’m Gonna Stay With You),” there was a pause while The Anthem staff rushed to help a concert goer who had passed out. But that gave Toledo a chance, as he said, to introduce the song explaining that there were stories that accompanied each song on the new album.
On one of the quieter parts of the evening, Car Seat Headrest performed “Lady Gay Approximately,” which on the record was primarily acoustic, but hearing Ives’ guitar leading into the build up before the whole band came in really gave it an added emotional weight to a song that was already heavy as it told the story (or perhaps continued the story) of a mother whose son had passed away.
And songs like “Devereaux” and “Catastrophe (Good Luck With That, Man)” seemed to describe characters who are running away from something or looking back at something or some place they’ve lost.
One surprise amidst the set was the inclusion of “The Colossus,” a song that Toledo and company released on their Patreon site as a track that didn’t quite fit onto the new record. Introducing the song, Will Toledo recalled being in New York City and imagining the Statue of Liberty and the Trump Tower rising up and battling in the harbor.
Watch the official music video for “The Catastrophe (Good Luck With That, Man)” by Car Seat Headrest on YouTube:
Highlights included hearing the amazing “Gethsemane,” an expansive rocker off the new record, crowd favorite “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales,” and an incredible encore that kicked off with a packed medley. “So, we had to not play many songs that we love playing because there are only so many hours in the night,” Toledo started. “But we put together a few different songs that we couldn’t play in whole so we kind of wove it into this new song. And as it was coming together it started making me think it was telling this old story if it’s not past your bedtime.” He ended up telling a story about two brothers — rich and poor — that ends in a parable of forgiveness. The song itself started with “Happy News For Sadness,” “Stoop Kid,” and a bit of “Something Soon” from the early album, My Back Is Killing Me Baby that then merged into Twin Fantasy’s “Beach Life-In-Death” and “My Boy (Twin Fantasy).” The night was capped off by the poppy rocker “True/False Lover.”
An exciting start to what will undoubtedly be an amazing tour, Car Seat Headrest really put together a show not to miss.
The setlist included:
CCF (I’m Gonna Stay With You)
Devereaux
Lady Gay Approximately
The Catastrophe (Good Luck With That, Man)
The Colossus
Gethsemane
Reality
Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales
Planet Desperation
Encore:
Happy News for Sadness / Stoop Kid / Something Soon / Beach Life-In-Death / My Boy (Twin Fantasy)
True/False Lover
Here are more photos of Car Seat Headrest performing at The Anthem June 28, 2025. All photos copyright and courtesy of David LaMason.
And here are photos of Vundabar opening at The Anthem on June 28:
