On Thursday June 20th, Mikal Cronin played in New York City touring to support MCII, his second album. Opening the show were Shannon and the Clams (touring for Dreams in the Rat House) and Roomrunner (touring for their recent release of Ideal Cities). It was a bit of a strange line up with Roomrunner breaking up the pop festivities of Shannon and the Clams and Mikal Cronin.
Last time Mikal was here, he opened for Ty Segall and Human Eye and now he's managed to sell out Bowery Ballroom well in advance of the show. He played the strong hits from his self-titled debut album, opening with “Is it Alright” and weaving in the stronger songs from MCII such as the lead single “Shout It Out.” Bereft of a studio to balance out these songs, they became these intense rippers tipping from feel good jangle pop to these face melting garage punk exercises that sent the audience into a thrashing frenzy.
