Art Brut and Matt Hitt at Mercury Lounge
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut album, Bang Bang Rock & Roll, Art Brut began their three night stand at Mercury Lounge in Manhattan, the first place they ever played in the New York City two decades ago (I caught them the same year for the first time at Bowery Ballroom, which is double the size of Mercury, and a second time in the summer of 2006 during Siren Festival at Coney Island). The band performed the record in its entirety (not in track order) when their set began about 7:14PM on the first night on Tuesday, April 7th, after a 6:30PM opening set by Matt Hitt. Last night was the second show of their US tour (the tour began in Philadelphia the night before at Johnny Brenda’s).
Although it had been a long time since I caught Art Brut live, I’m pleased to report they’re still an extremely fun act, with vocalist Eddie Argos sharing anecdotes about songs, while also being humorous throughout the course of their hour plus set. He revealed that he actually does have a younger brother who inspired “My Little Brother,” that was 22 when the song was written who is currently 45 years old, and advised us against putting someone’s age in one’s song lyrics. For “Modern Art,” he said at the time he had only visited Tate Modern and the Pompidou, but has now added a third museum to the list: The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. During “Modern Art,” Argos left the stage and went into the crowd and had people kneel on the floor and asked them to jump up when he got to the number 743 and started at the number one (thankfully for those on the floor, he skipped many numbers). Before the band played “Fight!”, Argos shared they hadn’t played the song in a long time before the previous night due to a fight happening during one of their performances (he was pleased that we refrained from fighting each other during the song). At the end of their set, he introduced all members of the band* as Art Brut then declared everyone in attendance as Art Brut too, and encouraged us to start our own bands (he pointed at people at random, including myself, and told us to start a band together).
Photos from the first night at Mercury Lounge can be viewed in the above gallery, and Art Brut will return to the same stage again tonight, and tomorrow with different acts supporting (My Wonderful Boyfriend on Wednesday, 4/8, and Laptop on Thursday, 4/9). Their tour of the US and Canada continues through April 24th.
*Art Brut band members in 2026 besides Eddie Argos are: Ian Catskilkin (guitar and backing vocals), Olga Karatzioti-Bakopoulou (bass and backing vocals), Tobias Humble (drums) and Zeb Carlisle (guitar and backing vocals).
Art Brut at Mercury Lounge on Tuesday, April 7, 2026
Formed a Band
My Little Brother
Emily Kane
Rusted Guns of Milan
Moving to L.A.
Arizona Bay
Bang Bang Rock & Roll
Stand Down
18,000 Lira
These Animal Menswe@r
Good Weekend
Encore:
Pump Up the Volume
She Kissed Me (And It Felt Like a Hit)
Wham! Bang! Pow! Let's Rock Out!