Walkmen Dedicate Song to Canadian Border Guard at Osheaga

It took the Brooklyn/Philadelphia-based Walkmen over half a day to drive to Montreal for their Osheaga Festival set and nearly a couple of seconds for it to have almost been for naught.

"We drove 14 hours to play for you today," lead singer Hamilton Leithauser told the crowd of several thousand gathered for the band's main stage opening set. "And I'd like to thank the Canadian border officer who let me into the country without papers -- she said she'd be watching this in her office."

The band manifested their thanks by dedicating the set closer, 2009 single 'In the New Year,' to the accommodating guard.
It came at the end of a truncated half-hour set that was heavy on the band's last album, the critically acclaimed 'You & Me,' as well as several new songs from their upcoming sixth studio album, 'Lisbon.'

The band has the reputation of being the underdogs among the current batch of brooding, tense rock groups, constantly floating under the radar with the occasional mainstream intrigue – see 2004's 'The Rat.' But if the several new songs the band played, including the bouncy, energetic 'Angela Surf City' and the brooding, triumphant 'Victory,' are any indication, 'Lisbon' should be a return to accessible, recognizable melodies which could, if coupled with some well placed inclusions in films and television, elevate the group to the league of fellow Osheaga performers the National.

For now, however, the road to success begins at Osheaga, where the group was "absolutely thrilled" to be in the country at all.

Watch the Walkmen perform a new track at last night's set: