Where Have All the Rudeboys Gone?

Ted Leo @ South Street Seaport 8/26/05
After a so-so opening set by Tigers and Monkeys, Ted and his stripped-down Pharmacists (and now there are two; just a bassist and guitarist) came out and rocked Pier 17 on an absolutely perfect night for an outdoor show, as it was humidity-free and with a nice breeze flowing in from the water. The main set, which was about an hour in length, consisted mainly of selections from last year's good but not great Shake the Sheets along with 2 from 2003's excellent Hearts of Oak (the title track of this post and "The High Party", an incredible song written right after 9/11, which happens to be Ted's birthday). The encore, however, was the big surprise. Instead of the standard 1 or 2 songs and then get off the stage thing, he played what amounted to another mini-set, covering now-classic material like "Biomusicology" and "Parallel or Together" (from 2001's The Tyranny of Distance), several more from Hearts of Oak ("I'm a Ghost" and the title track) as well as a rousing (and unfortunately appropriate given the political climate) cover of the Stiff Little Fingers classic "Suspect Device".