Live Shows: Deer Tick, Cisco Brewers, Portsmouth, NH 6/14/23
Wednesday night Deer Tick kicked off their monster tour supporting their fantastic new album Emotional Contracts in Portsmouth, NH, which was John McCauley's birthday (aka Flag Day). It ended up being a brilliant and exhilarating night of music even though it had one of the rockiest of starts. The stage at Cisco Brewers is basically a parking lot with a stage at the end in the middle of an industrial park. But it's actually set up really nicely with a grassy hill over on the side for lounging and better views of the stage. I got there right as opener Rafay Rashid started, playing a laid back version of alt-rock meets roots music. They only played four or five songs when someone from the venue took to the stage to announce they had to pause the show due to thunderstorms passing through the area, for everyone to head indoors, and it would probably last about an hour. It turned out to last about two and a half hours. There was little to no communication between the venue and the a...