Ted Leo & The Pharmacists played the South Street Seaport last night. “Tyranny of Distance” was played in full. Some video of that is below, as well as footage of openers Screaming Females.

Since Ted Leo and the Pharmacists were announced as the headlining act for the kick off show at 4Knots, the fest has been somewhat redeemed in our eyes. And in the time since the announcement there has been some great news to add to this. First: Screaming Females will be opening for The Pharmacists, which makes sense and will make the show even awesomer. And now: Ted Leo will be playing their decade-old record The Tyranny of Distance in full.

I have mixed feelings on bands playing “classic” albums in full at festivals. It has become sort of an easy gimmick for bands to fall back on. But! With this (as with most things) Leo seems to have a pretty solid grasp on the real world and what this decision means.

This is not a big nostalgia trip!
We’re not doing it to place this in some sort of “classic albums” necropolis! We’ve been mostly on tour for the entire ten years since this album came out, and rarely has a night gone by that we haven’t played at least a few songs from it – it’s as alive to us now as it was when it was first released!
We (or “I”) have never “broken up” and moved on to other things, so we’re not getting back together to celebrate “what was” – this is and always has been our life, and we’re celebrating a milestone in that life!
This is not a “victory lap!”
Not the time to take a bow – there’s more work to do, and we have tours upon tours upon tours still ahead of us!

He goes on to say that this appearance at the South Street Seaport will be the 10th year in a row that he has done a free outdoor summer show in New York City. What an awesome guy!

Up until now, the lineup for 4Knots, the Village Voice’s South Street Seaport replacement for the Siren Fest, has seemed basically like a snooze-a-palooza. But today, The Voice announced that on July 9th, before the actual festival which is on July 16th, they will hold a kickoff show at the Seaport featuring Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.

Leo is, of course, fresh off covering Minor Threat for the Our Band Could Be Your Life tribute concert over the weekend; he played the 4Knots predecessor Siren in 2003 and last year; and he and the Seaport have quite the history, weather-and-concert-wise.

We are in agreement with Gothamist on this one when they say, “Ted Leo is amazing, but he can’t be the only one holding up this mist tent.”

I can’t tell if this new Ted Leo and the Pharmacists video is a spoof of American Idiot or a feel-good look at the goofiness of the “punk rock ethos.” (Whatever that means.) What I can tell is that this Tom Scharpling-directed video is star-studded! It’s got Paul F. Tompkins, John Hodgman, Julie Klausner and punks!