The 40-year-old billionaire twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have been on the highway with their rock band, Mars Junction, since early final month, crisscrossing the nation to supply their variations of songs by Blink-182, the Purple Scorching Chili Peppers, the Police, Pearl Jam and Journey. Tyler sings; Cameron performs guitar. On Saturday, they rolled into Amagansett, NY, the Lengthy Island seashore city not removed from the place they spent their childhood summers.
They arrived in grand fashion, cruising down Foremost Avenue in a 45-foot Prevost tour bus with “Mars Junction” in large lettering on the aspect. A Mercedes-Benz Sprinter introduced up the rear. The twins’ retinue included the 4 musicians within the band, a documentary filmmaker, a merchandise salesman and diverse employees members.
The 2 automobiles parked in entrance of the Stephen Talkhousea venue with an old-salt vibe the place numerous marquee performers have taken the stage over the many years, together with Jimmy Buffett, Jimmy Cliff, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Sheila E. and Suzanne Vega. Mars Junction was closing out the tour with two nights on the Talkhouse on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets have been $50.
The twins, whose cryptocurrency firm, Gemini, laid off 10 percent of its staff within the current crypto crash, hit a bump on the highway to Amagansett. An viewers member on the band’s present on the Marvel Bar in Asbury Park, NJ, posted a video of Tyler making an attempt and failing to match the crystalline excessive notes of the singer Steve Perry in Mars Junction’s rendition of Journey’s 1981 hit “Do not Cease Believin’.” The clip went viral, and the feedback on social media in regards to the twins — former Olympic rowers who made a fortune in Bitcoin after having a job within the creation of Fb — got here in sizzling.
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who have been born in close by Southampton and grew up in Greenwich, Conn., had a a lot hotter reception on the Talkhouse. By 7 pm on Saturday, the place was packed, primarily with younger adults in Bermuda shorts and summer time clothes who appeared to belong to the identical crowd because the Harvard-educated twins. Their dad and mom, Carol and Howard Winklevoss, have been in attendance, as have been a number of household mates.
The twins took the stage and dove into their opener, “High Gun Anthem,” the instrumental theme to the 1986 movie and its current sequel. Along with his mustache, slicked-back hair, aviator shades and pockets chain hanging from a again pocket, Tyler had a glance someplace between “High Gun” and Tommy Bahama. Cameron, in an orange shirt and white slacks, had extra of a surfer vibe.
Immediately, his legs extensive aside and the microphone held sideways, Tyler led the band into Rage Towards the Machine’s “Killing within the Title.” “Now you do what they advised ya!” he sang earlier than leaping into the group, the place he engaged in a flurry of high-fives and fist bumps with the Mars Junction trustworthy.
“What up, Talkhouse!” he mentioned after the tune was finished. “Fourth of July weekend, it is the large one! Able to rock, you guys?”
The hits saved on coming: Kings of Leon’s “Intercourse on Fireplace”; Mumford & Sons’ “The Wolf”; the Purple Scorching Chili Peppers’ “Cannot Cease.” When Tyler sang Elegant’s “Santeria,” he made a change to the road “Effectively, I had 1,000,000 {dollars}” by changing the phrase “million” with “billion.” Cameron executed a wah-wah guitar solo and took a swig of Liquid Dying water.
Then got here the difficult a part of the present: the Police medley, which required Tyler to hit the excessive notes so effortlessly sung by a youthful Sting in his Nineteen Eighties glory.
“So Lonely” segued into “Message in a Bottle,” which morphed into the hard-rocking “Synchronicity II” (“The manufacturing unit belches filth into the sky!” Tyler sang) earlier than settling into the reggae vibe of “Strolling on the Moon ” Tyler was stretching his voice to the restrict. Why not make it simpler on himself by beginning it off in a decrease key? However that isn’t the Winklevoss approach.
The gang sang together with the subsequent one, “Flagpole Sitta,” a 1997 hit for Harvey Hazard. When the music died down, a younger man within the viewers repeatedly screamed out a profane chant towards Mark Zuckerberg, whom the Winklevoss twins sued unsuccessfully, accusing him of denying them their fair proportion of Fb cash.
“I do not know what you are saying,” Tyler mentioned to the rowdy fan, the trace of a smile on his face.
He received nostalgic in his introduction to Pearl Jam’s “Even Circulate.”
“Let’s go early ’90s, yeah?” Tyler mentioned to the group. “What do you suppose? Early ’90s? Pre-internet? Are you able to deal with that? No social media? All proper, you need to return there?”
He channeled Eddie Vedder’s growl. Cameron busted out two solos.
“Whoooooooo!” mentioned the group.
“We’ll keep early ’90s for this subsequent one,” Tyler mentioned. “Prepared for some Nirvana?”
The gang whooped once more.
“Okay, that looks like a sure!”
Then got here “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” As they performed the subsequent tune, the Purple Scorching Chili Peppers’ “Suck My Kiss,” their mom, Carol, was clapping alongside to the beat as their father, sporting a blue blazer and button-down shirt, maintained a stoic demeanor.
For the tune “You are So Final Summer time,” by Taking Again Sunday, Cameron placed on a Mars Junction cap. Extra have been accessible on the merch desk for $20.02 apiece.
After the viewers tune alongside to “Mr. Brightside” by the Killers, Mars Junction supplied a pair of Journey songs as encores: “Do not Cease Believin’” and “Any Approach You Need It.” The lights got here as much as the sound of AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells” on the Talkhouse sound system. The twins left to have a late dinner with their dad and mom at Gurney’s in Montauk.
Earlier than the Sunday night present, the brothers took a second to talk in an upstairs room on the Talkhouse. As Tyler cracked open a Liquid Dying, he mentioned the earlier evening’s present had the texture of a homecoming and famous that his dad and mom nonetheless had the seashore home in close by Quogue. He added that Mars Junction was in a considerably susceptible place, because it performs such acquainted songs.
“While you play covers, you are judged towards the recording,” Tyler mentioned. “And the extra iconic the tune, the extra individuals know the recording, and stay’s slightly totally different. So it is a powerful factor.”
One factor the Mars Junction expertise has taught them, the twins mentioned, was that the lifetime of a touring musician will be sporting.
“You have to relaxation for these reveals,” Tyler mentioned. “It is an enormous exertion and, as a vocalist, your voice can go when you’re not cautious.”
“Guitars do not get drained,” Cameron mentioned. “However people do.”