The New Pornographers stunned at Liberty Hall Saturday night, even without its heavy hitters

The New Pornographers

Liberty Hall, Lawrence

Saturday, August 12

The ticket buyers baffled and/or confused by the absence of both Neko Case and Dan Bejar probably ended their nights a different kind of surprised. First, there’s the fact that the New Pornographers are just as able to entertain without those two pillars. This is a thing because, though it’s not necessarily fair, A.C. Newman — the figurehead and brainchild of the band — isn’t the No. 1 attraction of this Canadian indie-pop conglomerate.

But it should be readily apparent to longtime devotees of the New Pornographers that Kathryn Calder is no Neko Case understudy. Her work in Immaculate Machine might be better-known to former college radio DJs than to the general public, but her voice is always aces. Listening to her take the lead on, say, “Sing Me Spanish Techno” is a real delight, especially in harmony with violinist Simi Stone.

Yes: Hearing “A Testament to Youth in Verse” without Bejar’s distinctive voice is definitely weird. But the song still sounds amazing with Newman singing, The bells ring no, no, no, no, no, no. And Saturday night, the three-part harmonies shared among him, Stone and Calder blew the song up to immense size.

The new songs from Whiteout Conditions haven’t grabbed me on record, but they gained new legs onstage. “Colosseum” and the most recent LP’s title track sounded more robust live, especially sandwiched with “Dancehall Domine.”

This marked my fourth or fifth time seeing the New Pornographers. The band has turned into one of those I refuse to pass up. Given the sigh of happy recognition that greeted the arpeggiated synths leading into “Champions of Red Wine,” I wasn’t the only big fan in attendance. The balcony crowd was older and somewhat sedate, but damned if there wasn’t chair-dancing and singing to pretty much every song. Hell, “The Jessica Numbers” — intro’d by Newman as “the best song we ever wrote” — had enthusiastic finger-pointing.

“All the Old Showstoppers” sounded absolutely massive, and might’ve been one of the best performances I’ve seen in my nearly decade and a half of shows from the band. And that’s with them messing up the beginning and having to start all over again. All told, the New Pornographers, in any configuration, is a can’t-miss live band, especially on a Saturday night.

New Pornographers setlist

Moves

High Ticket Attractions

The Laws Have Changed

Sing Me Spanish Techno

Colosseums

Dancehall Domine

Whiteout Conditions

Champions of Red Wine

The Jessica Numbers

Adventures In Solitude

All the Old Showstoppers

This is the World of the Theater

Testament to Youth in Verse

Play Money

Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk

Avalanche Alley

Use It

Mass Romantic

Encore:

Brill Bruisers

The Bleeding Heart Show

Opener Ought was really chill, and its post-punk was kind of ramshackle, but in a good way. The songs hit a lot of touchstones, in that you could readily point to the various Factory Records acts from which their sound was assembled. It was like listening to a very well-curated mixtape more than seeing a new band, but Ought was still entertaining, if more a loose assemblage of early ’80s British musical tropes than anything memorable.