If there was a doubt left in anyone’s mind that Mary Timony is a bona fide badass rock n’ roll guitar hero, surely they were put to rest after seeing her performance at The Horseshoe on Monday night. After already impressing with a full set of classic numbers from her days in the band Helium, Timony then invited Rebecca Cole, her former bandmate from Wild Flag, to come out and join her on lead vocal in an encore performance of Yes’ “Long Distance Runaround.” My nerdy, prog rock loving heart grew three sizes upon hearing Timony and her top notch band’s rendition of the old prog chestnut.
But while I’d probably pay good money to see a Mary Timony Plays Yes tour, that song was just the icing on the cake after seeing Timony revisit the songs that she last played with Helium some twenty-ish years ago – songs like “XXX,” “Pat’s Trick,” “Honeycomb,” and “Superball” to name a few. Though I was never a huge Helium fan back in the day, I always appreciated their stuff and followed Timony’s career through her solo work and her time with Wild Flag and Ex Hex. After seeing Mary Timony play Helium on Monday night, I would now definitely count myself as a big fan.
Here’s a video of Timony and band doing “Long Distance Runaround” with guest Joan Wasser at New York’s Mercury Lounge on June 9: