Live music review: Deer Tick delivered at Stubb’s last week with Trampled By Turtles
When we noticed Rhode Island’s Deer Tick were coming back to Austin, we made a mental note as the indie, folk-rock foursome are among our favorite live acts going back to being introduced to the band at Do512’s Lounge years ago. John McCauley’s songwriting along with that of band mates, guitarist Ian O’Neil and bothers Christopher (bass) and Dennis Ryan (drums) is stellar. The group is a tight knit outfit and it shows in their cohesive live performance as it did last Wednesday at Austin’s Stubb’s BBQ. The band was wrapping a sort of co-tour with bluegrass outfit, Trampled by Turtles.
When we say co-tour we don’t mean Deer Tick was also a headliner but quartet did lay out an hour-long set that included cuts from across the band’s catalog. The group led off strong with a rocking song then passed the proverbial songwriting hat around with O’Neil featured on lead vocals then Dennis Ryan belting out a tune from behind the drum kit. Deer Tick were showing their considerable chops off from the outset and the fans were loving it, arriving early to catch an act that is usually well received when they come through Austin. Last week’s performance was no exception with a nearly full house early (8 p.m.) on a school night with a pandemic still raging.
It should be noted that amid the Omicron wave, this performance was the only remaining show left on Stubb’s January calendar. The next show listed at the venue is the second week of February. The latest spike has, indeed temporarily derailed a number of Winter tours and even some early Spring tours as was the case with Austin’s Sun June who were set to head to Europe next month and had to delay their trip over the Pond.
Deer Tick steadily worked their way through the set until they got to nearly 9 p.m. when the stage crowded with members of Trampled By Turtles who joined Deer Tick for a rousing cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “White Freightliner Blues” for an appreciative audience which was now swollen with Trampled By Turtles fans who missed the early part of the show. It was the collaborative segue Stubb’s needed to move on the closing performance which was captured beautifully below by Michael Maly.
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