photo: Ben Clark

Seeing a band twice while they are still touring the same record can be a dicey affair. Either the show can be so similar in sound and scope to the first concert that it can be frustrating to pay for essentially the same show twice, or, it can be so radically different from the original show that whatever made it special the first time was completely lost and replaced by something less stellar. Saturday night’s sold-out M83 show at the Triple Rock actually suffered from a slight combination of the two scenarios, and while that in no way made the show unsatisfying, it wasn’t altogether the compelling and captivating show that I saw from M83 at the same venue back in May.

The show was still a truly sonic experience (all M83 shows will be), with the sound at the Triple Rock crystal clear as always, but this time the music seemed to be a mere soundtrack to everyone’s Saturday night, as opposed to the performance being the focal point of everyone in the club. The show featured a slightly different set list from the show in May, especially at the beginning, with three instrumental tracks (including an excellent “Moon Child”) kicking off the show. Anthony Gonzalez didn’t even sing until the fourth song of the evening, “Kim & Jessie,” that found the band (the same four piece ensemble that played back in May) extending the song quite a bit during the outro, with keyboardist Morgan Kibby adding background vocals that took the song in a spacier direction.

All the “hits” from their excellent Saturdays=Youth record were represented, with “We Own The Sky” being an early set highlight, “Graveyard Girl,” and my favorite song of the night “Skin Of The Night,” closed out the main set in a truly resounding manner, while “Don’t Save Us From The Flames,” was a highlight of the older songs played during the night. And while all these tracks sounded amazing, it just seemed too similar a set to their last performance to be truly remarkable. The show was paced much better this time around (a sure sign that they’ve spent a lot of time on the road with this material), with fewer extended breaks between songs, and Anthony spent more time on keyboards, lessening the need for as much backing music as they had last time. And drummer Loic Maurin, who really drives the bands sound and keeps them locked in, was incredibly on point all evening. However, similarities between the two performances seemed to override the uniqueness of the event for me.

The crowd was dancing a bit (gasp?!) and was generally much more festive than at their last show, perhaps owing to the Saturday night time slot, and that was certainly encouraging, because M83 makes music that should cause you to move something. But, while I was making my way around the incredibly packed Triple Rock, I realized that people perhaps weren’t as captivated by the performance as they should have been, with their songs simply becoming background music to the many loud conversations taking place around the venue. But M83’s songs are so atmospheric and spatial, and have so much room within the music, that one can certainly enjoy it without concentrating too hard.

The set closed with an extended and exuberant “Couleurs,” the same way their set did in May, and while it was an exclamation point on a wonderful set, it was too indistinguishable to the end of their last show to make a lasting impression on me. I’m sure that people who didn’t make the show in May must have thought this show was incredible, but for me, the similar set list took away from the distinctive nature of the evening and my overall enjoyment of the show. It was by no means the bands fault, they sounded fantastic and seemed very engaged by both their performance and their fans, I just need to give them some time to release new music before I see them again.

Openers School Of Seven Bells, featuring guitarist Ben Curtis (formerly of Secret Machines) and sisters Claudia (on keyboards) and Alley (on guitar and rhythm samples) Deheza (formerly of On!Air!Library!), played an entertaining, but all-too-brief set. They made it through about six or seven songs from their excellent debut Alpinisms, in a set that unfortunately went just beyond the half hour mark. Their music was ambient and interesting, and was given a slightly sinister twist by Ben’s guitar work, and formed a good primer for when the band returns as headliners and has a longer set to work with. I talked to Ben after their set, and he thinks they will be back touring as headliners sometime in February. He was a genuinely nice guy, very affable, and quite proud of his new band (and why shouldn’t he be-not only do they make great music, but they might just be the best looking band in history. The Deheza sisters are absolutely stunning.) But I digress. If you haven’t managed to check out Alpinisms at this point, I highly recommend it, especially before School Of Seven Bells come back to Minneapolis in 2009.

M83: (Official) (MySpace) (Wikipedia)
School of Seven Bells: (Official) (MySpace) (Wikipedia) (Facebook)

Also: (Interview with Benjamin Curtis of School of Seven Bells) (M83 @ Triple Rock Social Club 05/28/2008)