“Ten years ago our adventure began by playing our first show to virtually no one, and to celebrate we’ve decided to play a show to everyone, virtually.”

Ten years as a band is a big deal and rightly so, any group that’s been operating for a decade will want to commemorate this time with some kind of celebration. 2020 sees NYC outfit, Parquet Courts celebrate the tenth anniversary of their first show at Monster Island (it was on 17 th December 2010 for the modern history buffs among us). Although, Covid-19 had other plans this year, meaning, like most people (and bands), the four piece had to get creative when it came to marking an important milestone as a functioning band. On 10th December, Parquet Courts live streamed a gig at Pioneer Works, New York, entitled ‘On Time’. Not so much just a band performance but a live concert inter-spliced with archival footage, new interviews and the opportunity to buy exclusive merch to mark the event. Like most artists, the quartet turned their virtual gig into something extra, the chance to usher their fans across the world into their inner sanctum, not just to play a batch of songs but to open their arms and create something special.

Although ‘On Time’ was first and foremost a live stream concert, with the band set-up facing each other, separated by piles of flowers and scattered satsumas and apples, like we’d been transported to an indie-punk Garden of Eden in a New York loft space, the snippets of footage from the early days of their careers and up to date interviews provoked the feeling of warmth and intimacy. The equivalent of a band playing a tiny club show with a Q&A but via the World Wide Web. With a set that mostly leant on the group’s early work from ‘Light Up Gold’, ‘Sunbathing Animal’ and ‘Human Performance’, the band’s rawness wasn’t in any way dampened having been transmitted across the internet. ‘Sunbathing Animal’ scratched and gnawed with a ramshackle urgency while the ode to having the munchies ‘Stoned and Starving’ was brilliantly elongated and segued into ‘Light Up Gold I & II’ with effortless poise. At times the group would jam out a song so much that it felt like the audience had been given a private window into a tight as fuck practise session. As an ‘On Time’ exclusive, Parquet Courts dug back into their vault to air a previously unreleased song ‘Hey Bug’, which first took shape as part of the ‘Sunbathing Animal’ sessions but didn’t make the final cut. As lead singer/guitarist, Andrew Savage puts it “so here you are, our lone musical contribution in the year of 2020; ‘Hey Bug’ (recorded 2013).” Ah 2013, pre-Coronavirus, when you could actually see a live band, in a room, with actual humans around you, a simpler time…

With each song separated by an interjection of footage detailing the band’s past (or a bang up to date interview where each member would ruminate on the past), be it a backstage interview, a cut from the group playing live to a bouncing audience or the outfit goofing around on tour, this certainly helped create the notion of ‘On Time’ being an event, something special to ring in a decade of Parquet Courts. There’s a nice touch when Andrew and Max Savage’s (drums) father talks directly to the camera about the pride he feels seeing his sons doing what they love in Parquet Courts. Equally, the segment dedicated to Max, as he reflects about his time in the group strikes a pertinent note as he leaves Pioneer Works to join a bunch of American Flag waving people, one adorned with an ‘Anti-Trump Social Club’ tee, seemingly in jubilant form due to the recent election of President-Elect Joe Biden and the ousting of Donald Trump from the White House. It’s a subtle nod to the group’s most recent record ‘Wide Awake!”, which isn’t represented during ‘On Time’ but given the track ‘Almost Had to Start A Fight/In and Out of Patience’ is a song that details the sight and resulted bewilderment of a PQ fan wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ cap to a past gig, it’s a nice Easter egg for any die hard fans out there.

Could we all be in the same room together? No. Did Parquet Courts pull out all the stops to put on an event beamed across the internet that was the next best thing and undeniably special and brilliantly executed? Yes, and then some. Thank you very much fellas, that was awesome.

Words and thoughts of Adam Williams