Passion Pit @ Triple Rock Social Club
[Photo courtesy of Leslie Plesser.]
Passion Pit came to town this past Friday night in support of their debut album Manners, and the Boston-based group played a highly energetic and supremely fun show to a very sold out (and very young) crowd. The live version of the band consists of a five-piece that features bass, guitars, keyboards and most importantly, live drums. The band sounded great backing up Michael Angelakos’ creaking falsetto as they plowed through their electro-funk jams. The show, which clocked in at a meager 55 minutes, was an exhilarating burst of energy that found the young crowd (almost everyone around me seemed to be under 21) using their seemingly boundless energy to help push the band to play a great set.
[Photo courtesy of Leslie Plesser.]
Starting off the set with “Make Light,” the band sounded tight, although Angelakos’ vocals were too low in the mix. After a few songs the singer’s vocals were finally raised to a point where they matched the music and that’s when the band really started hitting their stride. The live drums added another amazing dimension to their sound and really helped the band’s songs jump, pushing the crowd to pogo and dance right from the start of the set. One unfortunate downfall of relying heavily on electronic instruments is that they are libel to go on the fritz, and for Passion Pit, this happened early and often during their set. Starting with their third song, the slinky “Let Your Love Grow Tall,” the band experienced glitches with samples and keyboards that forced them to stop, restart, or simply play a pieced-together renditions of their songs. To the band’s credit, they didn’t act like divas or storm off stage, but the glitches are definitely something they need to get figured out as they move on to bigger venues and crowds. Highlights of the short set included the amazing “Sleepyhead,” along with Manners standouts “Smile Upon Me” and “The Reeling.” Angelakos clearly has a knack for writing bubbly electronic pop songs, even if his herky-jerky dancing stage presence may need a little work. The band seemed genuinely excited to be up on stage and used their energy to put on one of the most fun shows I have seen this year.
[Photo courtesy of Leslie Plesser.]
The band’s first ever show in Minneapolis was packed and showed how big they have apparently already become, and I feel like their next visit is going to be in a much bigger venue. [Sidenote: In a sight you don't see very often, there was a scalper roaming outside of the venerable punk club and I heard people speaking of paying upwards of $50 on Craigslist for tickets (they were $12 face value).] And while I wasn’t completely sold on Passion Pit based on their debut LP, their live show was fun and engaging and showed a band who are clearly destined for bigger things.
Also: Passion Pit “Sleepyhead”
