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Oct 08, 2023 By Matthew Berlyant Photography by Mike Faccioli Web Exclusive

While I’d wanted it to happen for many years, a Velocity Girl reunion was not on my 2023 bingo card, as they had only played once this entire century, twenty-one years ago in 2002 at an anniversary show for the DC club The Black Cat. As a big fan going back to the early nineties, I am very happy to be wrong about that, though. Thankfully, at least some of the members have still been playing music since then, with drummer Jim Spellman (also a CNN journalist) playing in the short-lived but beloved and fantastic Julie Ocean in the late 2000s and guitarist and songwriter Archie Moore continuing to mix like-minded indie-pop bands, most notably The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s debut LP in 2009. He also reunited the noise-pop pioneers Black Tambourine for a Ramones covers EP in 2012 and singer Sarah Shannon also pursued a solo career in the 2000s as well.

What this meant was that for their second public appearance (following another reunion show at the Black Cat earlier in the month as part of their thirtieth anniversary festival), fans who had been waiting for decades in some cases to see them again traveled from all over the world just for this occasion and what they got was a band that was well-rehearsed and ready to play. And boy, was it worth it. Starting off with “Drug Girls” (from their second album, 1994’s Simpatico!) and then launching right into the single “Audrey’s Eyes” from their 1993 masterpiece Copacetic, the set was off, alternating between songs from dream-pop/indie-pop hybrid they perfected on Copacetic and the more straightforward power-pop of Simpatico! beautifully for over an hour, much to the delight of the very sold-out crowd.

From Copacetic, the highlights were many, not only including the aforementioned “Audrey’s Eyes” but the single “Crazy Town,” “Pop Loser” and the more uncharacteristically atmospheric “Here Comes,” They even teased the “Crazy Town” B-side “Creepy” at the request of several audience members (including myself) but unfortunately didn’t play it.

Their 1992 single “My Forgotten Favorite” was also another set highlight, with the crowd singing along to this gem, some definitely discovering it and the band through its inclusion on the soundtrack of the Amy Heckerling film Clueless.

Vocalist Sarah Shannon pranced around the stage like a whirling dervish and the band followed suit, displaying more energy than many half their age, despite bassist Kelly Young joking about how long it had been since they’d last played, as they were all clearly having fun and Shannon was clearly startled and pleasantly surprised on several occasions that fans remembered many of the lyrics.

Here’s to hoping that this thus far triumphant and joyous reunion will produce more shows so others can see them and perhaps at some point it could even produce new music? We shall see.
Jeanines, who are currently on the same, venerated Slumberland label where the headliners got their start (for instance, “My Forgotten Favorite” was originally released on the label), opened the show with a set containing about fifteen songs in thirty minutes (many from their two fantastic albums on Slumberland), each a speedy indie-pop burst packed with catchy hooks galore. I’d previously seen them play Union Pool and TV Eye, both much smaller places, so seeing them here at Bowery Ballroom felt like they were playing Madison Square Garden by comparison and on this larger stage, they excelled