After premiering the first single from his upcoming album I Love You, Honeybear on Letterman two nights ago (with unsettling canned laughter), Father John Misty‘s performance of “Bored in the USA” on Minneapolis’ The Current 89.3 from 2013 has resurfaced.
The two versions are nearly the same, though the 89.3 performance is sans 22-piece string band. Lyrically, the song updates Springsteen’s exploration of what it meant to be a young man in post-Vietnam America. The lament of the destruction the war had on the homeland clearly has no modern parallel, as Misty paints those who pray to “White Jesus” as an overmedicated and underemployed people whose distance from real hardship and strife have numbed them to their own experience. It is a biting track, delivered with all of Misty’s graces and charisma.
I Love You, Honeybear is out February 10, 2015 (preorder here) and will be extensively and internationally toured, as detailed below the video.
Tour Dates:
Jan. 16 – Felton, CA – Bret Harte Hall
Jan. 17 – Sonoma, CA – Vet’s Hall Ballroom
Jan. 18 – Chico, CA – El Rey Theatre
Feb. 09 – Los Angeles, CA – Roxy*
Feb. 12 – Brooklyn, NY – Rough Trade NYC*
Feb. 14 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom*
Feb. 16 – Montreal, QC – Virgin Mobile Corona Theater*
Feb. 18 – Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall*
Feb. 21 – Dublin, IE – Whelans
Feb. 22 – Glasgow, UK – King Tuts
Feb. 23 – Manchester, UK – Gorilla
Feb. 26 – London, UK – Village Underground
Feb. 27 – Leeds, UK – Brudenell Social Club
Feb. 28 – Bristol, UK – Thekla
Mar. 03 – Paris, FR – La Maroquinerie
Mar. 04 – Brussels, BE – Botanique – Orangerie
Mar. 05 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso
Mar. 07 – Berlin, DE – Privatclub
Mar. 08 – Hamburg, DE – Nochtspelcher
Mar. 25 – Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works**
Mar. 26 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse**
Mar. 27 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel**
Mar. 28 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club**
Mar. 31 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club**
Apr. 01 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer**
Apr. 03 – Chicago, IL – Vic Theater**
Apr. 04 – Minneapolis, MN – First Ave**
Apr. 07 – Lawrence, KS – Granada**
Apr. 08 – Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room**
Apr. 09 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theater
Apr. 22 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater^
Apr. 23 – Houston, TX – Fitzgerald’s^
Apr. 24 – Austin, TX – Stubb’s^
Apr. 25 – New Orleans, LA – Civic Theater^
* w/ Guy Blakeslee
** w/ King Tuff
^ w/ Luluc
