NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
What can I say about Nation of Language that I haven’t already said when we covered their shows in Toronto in 2022 at Lee’s Palace and last December at the Phoenix Concert Theatre? On the heels of their third Studio album “Strange Disciple” being named Best Record of 2023 by Rough Trade and UK/EU and North American tours in support of that record in 2023, the trio of Ian Richard Devaney (lead vocals and guitar), Aidan Noell (keyboards), and Alex MacKay (bass) opened 2024 by opening for Beach Fossils on their US tour. Now they are squeezing some headlining shows here and there while they play the festival circuit. On June 19th, they stopped at Electric City in Buffalo, NY for one of those shows.
This night’s opener was Ian Sweet (aka Jilian Medford), an indie artist from Los Angeles. She’s not a newcomer, having released four studio albums, the latest “Sucker” in 2023. Playing also as a three-piece band, Sweet blew through a wonderful set full of danceable pop tunes. She did tell a funny story about having been in Buffalo before. She had gone to a DIY show and got a black eye while moshing, her eye and a guitar head meeting where they shouldn’t. Check out “Sucker” on your favorite streaming platform.
Click on photos to enlarge
As I mentioned before, what more can I say about Nation of Language? After listening to their records over the last couple of years, it does seem like every song on their setlist is a hit but that may be familiarity talking. Their live show, as always, is amazing, with moving spotlights making each band member alternate between light and dark. On this night, it turns out that many members of the audience had come down from Canada to see catch Nation of Language since they’re not expected to play again in Toronto until October! It was wonderful to see fans in the front dancing and singing along to every song all evening! The set comprised of a fairly equal number of songs from each of their studio albums, with the band closing out the encore with the ever popular “Across That Fine Line”. My personal favorite, even though it isn’t a dance track was “Swimming in the Shallow Sea” from “Strange Disciple”.
After a break in July, Nation of Language will continue to play festivals in the US and abroad before co-headlining with Blonde Redhead for a few shows on the west coast. As mentioned before, they will be playing The Concert Hall in Toronto in October so Buffalonians should follow the example of the Canadians and head up there to catch this fun band in the fall!
Click on photos to enlarge
