Midway through “Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider,” the second song of 2nd Grade’s Saturday night gig opening for Kiwi jr. at Berlin NYC, Peter Gill’s microphone fell out of its stand. This might not have been a problem at most of 2nd Grade’s shows, where Gill tends to only sing, but that night the Philly power pop outfit was reduced to a trio with Gill pulling double duty on bass, meaning his hands were almost literally tied. But great performers turn obstacles into opportunities – instead of fumbling around for the mic, Gill dropped to his knees and sang the rest of the rest of the song kneeling, posing like some 60s guitar god who was just really feeling the music, man, and all of a sudden a set that started out a little stiff had new life. 

If there’s one band that’s latched onto me during the COVID and post-COVID eras, it’s been 2nd Grade. 2020’s Hit to Hit was a refreshingly light album that I needed to help me navigate a heavy time, and turned out to be something of a springboard for the group as well, earning their first (and thus far only) Pitchfork review and catching the attention of Stereogum, who dutifully covered their next two releases, 2021’s Wish You Were Here Tour Revisited and 2022’s Easy Listening. I even got in on a bit of the fun when I interviewed Gill, guitarist Jon Samuels, and bassist Catherine Dwyer for a grad school project, establishing me as a firm member of the band’s fan club. Of course, those interviews all took place at the end of 2020, which means nobody was really back to performing yet, which means I’ve been waiting nearly three years to finally see my heroes in person, making this show one of my most anticipated of the year.

“W-2,” the band’s first song, and the aforementioned “Dennis Hopper” were a little rickety. A big part of the appeal of 2nd Grade’s bite-sized bops is that they feel kind of adolescent and naive, but there’s a fine line between precious and chintzy, which the group was towing for a bit in their early songs. Gill’s pitch wasn’t quite there and Samuels’ guitar was a little overpowered by Francis Lyons’ drums, but like I said, the microphone incident felt like it unlocked the kind of rock and roll attitude the group needed for these songs to finally gel. Scissorkicks from Gill and hot licks from Samuels followed, giving 2nd Grade’s songs the kind of earnest-yet-winking energy that really lets them fly on record. Even if the diminished lineup wasn’t able to replicate the handclaps and double-tracked vocals found on their records, they were still able to come close enough approximations when they had too. A rare performance of the Samuels-sung “100 Hrs,” apparently requested by Kiwi jr.’s Jeremy Gaudet, added an extra dose of spontaneity to the set as well.

But for all the semi-ironic rock star posturing, 2nd Grade still proved that they were capable of being a really damn good band when the occasion calls for it. “Favorite Song” felt like the spark that lit the fire, a ten out of ten single that allowed Gill to display the expressive qualities of his voice and features one of the group’s more interesting guitar parts, and a tight, speedy rendition of “Velodrome” helped the band keep up its momentum. They closed with “Work Til I Die,” a simple stomp of a song whose slower tempo and sentimental lyrics gave it a weightier air, and whose very performance felt like an appropriately powerful coda. The song’s near constant guitar notes required Samuels to snap into a quasi-windmill, and the heavy toms of the drumbeat gave it an almost martial quality. It felt like something that could last forever and yet eventually fall apart – in other words, it had stakes, something even a self-consciously modest band like 2nd Grade needs to convey for a successful live performance. Luckily for the audience, they were able to do just that.