The War on Drugs played Madison Square Garden during a snowstorm (pics, setlist, video)

Judy Moreno

Sandwiched between their hometown show in Philadelphia and a trip to Boston, The War on Drugs brought the Live Drugs tour to NYC and neither Omicron or a snowy bomb cyclone could stop them. (Covid did keep them from having openers on this tour, though, and they postponed a couple shows because of it as well.) With a two and a quarter hour set featuring songs from four of the band's five full length albums, Adam Granduciel's band was determined to ensure fans who had braved the treacherous conditions on Saturday night did not leave disappointed.

With no opener, the band began promptly at 8:30 PM with the slow burner "Old Skin" from 2021's I Don't Live Here Anymore as an orange and purple hue poured across the Madison Square Garden floor. This was followed by a one-two punch of "Pain," from A Deeper Understanding, and Lost in the Dream's "An Ocean in Between the Waves." The band rifled through a 17-song setlist (with some last moment changes from the printed setlist) before ending with last year's standout track "Occasional Rain," a fitting choice for the finale of a 3-song encore.

Pics by Toby Tenenbaum are in this post and The War on Drugs' setlist and video from their MSG show are below.

SETLIST: The War on Drugs @ Madison Square Garden 1/29/2022
Old Skin
Pain
An Ocean in Between the Waves
I Don’t Wanna Wait
Victim
Strangest Thing
Harmonia’s Dream
Red Eyes
Your Love Is Calling My Name
The Animator
Come to the City
Living Proof
I Don’t Live Here Anymore
Under the Pressure
In Reverse

Encore:
Thinking of a Place
Burning
Occasional Rain