Belly Played Bowery Ballroom, 8/10/16

Tanya Donelly

Super-Connected

This weekend marks 23 years that CoolMom and I have been together. I remember back in 1993, when I think we may have still just been buddies hanging out together, talking on the phone with her about this fantastic CD I had just purchased. It was Belly's Star, and I still have this image in my mind of its playing in the background as I told CoolMom about it over the phone from my Hoboken apartment.

Last night, Belly bassist Gail Greenwood asked the crowd at Bowery Ballroom if there were any couples in the audience that had met at a Belly concert. CoolMom and I didn't quite qualify, but Belly has been with us since just about Day 1 of our relationship. We listened to them together when CoolMom moved across the river to join me in Hoboken. She listened to Star daily in her office at the University of Washington while she worked on her dissertation. For me, it's still a go-to record, one I put on in the car on drives back from Asbury Park or Brooklyn.

Gail Greenwood

When Belly announced earlier this year that they'd be playing shows and making new music, I was thrilled. As much as we listened to Star and King back in the day, we'd never managed to see Belly live. Last night, I met CoolMom after work in New York; and we got to check something off of our joint bucket list.

I couldn't resist requesting a photo pass for the night, and the band graciously hooked me up. That meant, though, that CoolMom would have to put up with arriving right at doors so I could stake out a spot up front. Bowery Ballroom has no photo pit, and it's kind of every photographer for themselves. I'd also read that Belly would play two full sets with no opener, so CoolMom was in for a long night. Once the band started, though, the pain of standing on our old bones for hours evaporated.

At about 9:15 Tanya Donelly, Gail Greenwood, Chris Gorman, and Tom Gorman walked out on stage. Greenwood told us that they'd rather be with us than with "the finest people on earth;" and the band started with "Puberty," the opening track from Belly's criminally underrated sophomore album, King. From the start, the band smiled and joked among themselves and with the audience, creating an atmosphere that had the warmth of a gathering of friends. Their two sets covered both LPs along with new songs and non-album tracks.

Before the band laid into "Gepetto," one of the familiar highlights from Star, Greenwood exhorted everyone to "Party like it's 1993!" When it was over, she asked, "Is everyone OK? Did anybody stroke out? Break a hip?"

"Slow Dog." "White Belly." "Seal My Fate." "Low Red Moon." "Judas My Heart." Pure happiness.

Belly closed the first set with "Full Moon, Empty Heart." Bowery Ballroom erupted into a sing along; but over the crowd's singing, we could hear that Donelly's voice was as beautiful and distinct as ever.

"OK. We'll be back. I don't know if anybody told you this," Donelly said. Then, in a stage whisper, "but we're gonna play for a looong time." No problem.

When Belly returned, they rattled off three Star tracks in "Untogether," "Dusted," and "Feed the Tree" or -- as Donelly introduced it -- "a song about a tree, a man, a girl..."

"And a squirrel," interjected Tom Gorman.

"That's right. Can't forget the squirrel," Donelly said. "And a bicycle. And dental insurance."

King standouts "Now They'll Sleep" and "Super-Connected" came during the second set, and the band closed with a one-song encore, "Stay."

Two full sets. Almost two hours. All from a band that only ever made two albums. Yes, we all partied like it was 1993; but, for me anyway, it wasn't a nostalgia-fest. To my mind, Tanya Donelly -- who also co-founded Throwing Muses and The Breeders and has had a long solo career -- is one of the most important and influential pop songwriters of the last two or three decades. That was made clear by the fact that these songs more than held up. They sounded as current and relevant as they did 20 years ago. And, live, the band both charmed and absolutely rocked (especially Gail Greenwood, who has always rocked with the rockingest).

CoolMom was simultaneously exhausted and ecstatic. When we celebrate our 23 years together this Saturday, I think I'll throw on the 2xLP Star re-issue that came in the mail last week.

Belly are at Bowery Ballroom again this evening. I think it's sold out; but if you can find a way to get there, do it.

You can see all the pics in the Flickr galleries and on the Facebook page once I finish uploading them.