I had been looking forward to this Panda Bear show for a long time. I go to a bunch of shows, but there is so much new music coming my way that sometimes it’s difficult to spend enough time with a band’s material. Enough time to get excited about a show. But I do remember looping a live track of “Bros” from Upset the Rhythm, the number of times treading on manic, previous to the release of Person Pitch. So – there was a little bit of anticipation.
Timing at Bowery is a tough pony to wrangle, but somehow, so magically, Rachel and I found our spots in the back, beers in hand, just as Noah was taking the stage. He had set up his rig center stage, in front of a very large screen. As he played, images and videos played on the screen. It was clearly meticulously timed and orchestrated, and turned into a thoroughly lovely experience. He played a video of two people making love on a roller coaster during “Comfy in Nautica” and I think a video of a dog being windblown during “Bros”. It was fantastic. For the most part he played off of Person Pitch, and while he stayed pretty close to album versions, the experience of hearing it live and loud was moving. Very moving. But apparently Rachel and I were the only ones who thought so. While we were getting down during “Carrots” the rest of the audience was actively ignoring the thick heady beat that is the backbone of the song. Rant time, I apologize ahead of time, I’m sorry- but what is wrong with New Yorkers these days? I get that it’s always been a common complaint – New Yorkers don’t dance, but this is getting out of hand. I find more and more people approaching dance music with crossed arms and cerebral looks on their faces. Whatever. After the show some dude approached Rachel and I and told us how happy he was to see us dancing and having a great time, and basically repeated that little word tantrum I just threw. Vindication!
It was a superb experience and I heard that some guy taped the whole tour and is going to sync up the video with soundboard audio. If you couldn’t be there – keep an eye out for that, you’ll want to see it. I’m pretty excited about it myself.
