That was a hell of a concert.
It's taken me a week to get this review together, but yeah. It was awesome. This was the fifth time I've seen the band, and probably a close second for the best performance of the five. Of course, #1 is the time I saw them in 2004 at the Horseshoe, back when their shows cost $10, not $32, and the opener was this unknown duo named the Junior Boys. You could say I'm "OG-TVOTR".
My enthusiasm for the group was bested only slightly by the guy standing to the right of us at the show, who was seemingly the only other person in the room who lost their shit more than I did when we realized that the group was opening the show with "Young Liars"... when the drums kicked in on that song and the whole Sound Academy began to shake, I knew we were in for a special show. So did Mr. Superfan, who knew every break, beat and chorus.
Jamming into every song, including the start of the show, extending parts and changing arrangements, the set was dynamic and well-paced. The biggest difference was the trombone player on stage, filling out the group's sound with his smooth playing and picking up the tambourine when there were no horn parts.
The lighting show also was above and beyond anything I've seen them do before, and it really enhanced the whole set, especially "Staring at the Sun" and "Red Dress".
All the new material fits really well into the live show, and they did a good job working the new stuff in with the old. If you are a fan of the band, you gotta check out the new album, Nine Types of Light. I got into the band in the early days, so I wonder what it's like for some of these kids (yes, kids, a couple of them couldn't have been older than 13) to hear their dense, mind-blowing early work in comparison to the slick, crystalline production of Dear Science and Nine Types of Light... It's a cool feeling to have been following a group since the beginning and seeing new fans come in along the way.
I've mentioned before that I've heard people gripe about the Sound Academy... last time I saw TVOTR play there, in 2009, the sound was indeed a bit flat. This time, however, it was damn near perfect. (Well, the guitars could have cut through a bit more, but, ya know...) Compared to the recent drum machine driven Cut Copy show at the same venue, I can say without a doubt that live drums make a huge difference. TVOTR's drums were earth rumbling, amazing.
Here's the setlist, via setlist.fm (which is an awesome site cause I don't have to fret about trying to remember the setlist after one or two barley pops):
Young Liars
The Wrong Way
Blues From Down Here
Caffeinated Consciousness
Province
Crying
Staring at the Sun
Will Do
Repetition
Wolf Like Me
Red Dress
Encore:
A Method
Forgotten
Satellite
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The makeup of the group harkens back to Prince and Sly & the Family Stone... I can see them touring with female backup singers in the future, one which I'm sure will be bright.
There are few better bands out there recording and performing right now, the "genre-blending" (I hate that term) of the group puts them light years ahead of other groups and makes you wonder why you listen to much else of anything at all.
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