After seeing Animal Collective put on a great show at the Grand Ballroom the night before, I was excited to see them in a much more intimate setting. I have seen them at The Electric Factory in Philly and at All Points West over the summer, but I had a feeling that their show at The Bowery Ballroom was going to be the one to solidify AC as the best live performers around today, and they did not disappoint.
Their Grand Ballroom show was great, don’t get me wrong, but this show blew my mind like I had anticipated. After all the well deserved hype leading up to the release of their new LP, Merriweather Post Pavilion, AC had a lot to live up to on both fronts. Without a doubt, this was the best performance I have seen from AC.
The crowd was an exclusive one. The Ticketmaster password was distributed via private message on the Collectiveanimals message board. At one point someone yelled out “cobraleg,” which was the distributed password, to the laughter of some of the fans.
The set list was all that I could ask for and flowed seamlessly, which differed from the night before. They opened with “Also Frightened,” and then moved into a crisp version of “My Girls” with David “Avey Tare” Portner’s backup vocals very clear in the mix. The new song that they have been touring with, given the fan title of “Blue Sky,” fit well into the set. Next, the band followed with a reworked and the now more powerful and intense version of “Slippi,” which was part of the encore the night before. The new “Slippi” has the stop/start movement of “Guys Eyes” on speed. It fit much better in the set list here, because it lifted the energy to a nice level after the sedation of “Blue Sky.” This felt like a better place for it in the set.
The much talked about rework of “Leaf House” sounded exceptional and moved right into a knock out performance of “Summertime Clothes” that re-energized the audience. The former Panda Bear song, “Guys Eyes,” that was redone for MPP, had all eyes on Noah Lennox. Luckily, I was right in front of Panda Bear and got to watch his mastery of his duel SP-555s and his fanatical vocal performance.
The highlight of the night for me was a surprising one. This was the fourth time that I have seen the “Fireworks/Essplode/Fireworks” medley that was put together for their last tour, and one of the only songs that remained on the set list for this MPP tour. Because I was two feet in front of Panda Bear and his setup, I got to appreciate his live drumming as well. Panda Bear mixed live drums and loops, and his percussion work was masterful and highly energetic. It drove the piece to a new height, as all eyes focused his way.
Ending the set with a one-two punch from “Lion In A Coma” and “Brothersport” rounded out the set to perfection. Brian “Geologist” Weitz was intense in his usual head bobs as he put on the opening sample to “LIAC” and Avey Tare’s vocals were again mixed well and sounded like you were listening to record if you closed your eyes, with a bigger bass punch. You just can’t go wrong with ending a set or an album with “Brothersport” and it wrapped it up with a furiousness as the band walked off stage.
The night before featured a reworked version of “Banshee Beat” and “Slippi.” Having already heard the latter, I was anxious what they would come up with. Again, no disappointments. After less than 3 minutes off stage, they came out and went into a completely reworked version of “Winter’s Love” that mellowed the crowd after the wild set. If it weren’t for the lyrics, it would of been hard to tell what song they were even playing, but it worked and sounded like a well constructed jam. As the song faded out, the familiar opening to “Comfy in Nautica,” from Panda’s Bear’s solo album Person Pitch, kicked in. The crowd was full of 550 ecstatic grins. Noah put everything he had into the vocals and made it the perfect closer to the set.
With the growing popularity that Animal Collective is currently experiencing, I don’t know if I will ever get a chance to see them in a venue as intimate again. So I’ll savior the moment, knowing I will be referencing this show as one of the best I ever witnessed for years to come.
Thanks to our friend over at nyctaper.com, you can take a listen to the set as well. His site is back up currently, so download the mp3s or FLAC here.
Setlist:
01 “Also Frightened”
02 “My Girls”
03 “Blue Sky”
04 “Slippi”
05 “Leaf House”
06 “Summertime Clothes”
07 “Guys Eyes”
08 “Fireworks/Essplode/Fireworks”
09 “Lion In A Coma”
10 “Brothersport”
Encore
11 “Winters Love”
12 “Comfy in Nautica”
