Concert Wrap — Silversun Pickups, Sept. 21 @ George's
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:56 pm
The Silversun Pickups' Brian Aubert and Nikki Monninger. All photos by KEVIN KINDER, Northwest Arkansas Times
If you liked the albums “Swoon” and “Carnavas” from the Silversun Pickups, I suspect you liked the concert on Monday night (Sept. 21) at George’s Majestic Lounge.
If you didn’t care for the studio work, well, you didn’t get much to work with from the Los Angeles band.
There performance came as 700 fans, maybe more, packed host venue George’s Majestic Lounge on a dismally rainy Monday night for a show that was a perfect soundtrack for the rumbles outside.
Click the ‘more’ link below to continue reading about Monday evening’s concert at George’s Majestic Lounge.
In a set that lasted about 90 minutes, the Silversun Pickups delivered a full-on assault of their moody, ethereal rock. It came in walls of sounds, with rarely a moment of silence from the feedback that filled the venue.
Brian Aubert
Working almost exclusively from the band’s past two albums, the mood and music created there was as stormy as the gale that was passing through.
It is so largely because of the vocals of Brian Aubert, who has one of the most interesting and intriguing voices in rock music today. In his banter with the audience (and during an earlier phone interview with him) there was little sign of what to come, unless, of course, you’d listened to their albums.
His singing voice comes as a high-register howl, an emotive warble that might convince some he were instead female (in person, his beard is much too full to make you believe that, though).
It was one of those nights that built, brooded, starting slow and growing until it came down like a thunderclap at the end of the formal set with the one-two-three boom of the songs “Catch & Release,” “Panic Switch” and “Lazy Eye,” the last two being the band’s biggest radio hits.
I actually wanted it to end right there. How could it get more powerful?
The band did come back after a break long enough that about half the crowd had already exited the building. Silversun played three more songs, but none reached the panic-level of the first ending.
As Aubert screamed the final notes, he put down his guitar, which was still ringing violently with feedback. And it sat there for some seconds, oozing emotion and intensity. Much like it had done all night.
About the openers: Manchester Orchestra sure writes a mean hook. Their far-too-short set included just six songs. Lead singer Andy Hull is the star here, and you feel like even without the full band, these songs might strip down well into coffee house folk. That’s not so say the band wasn’t strong in places, but you get the feeling the tunes are crafted well enough to hold up elsewhere. The highlight was the new release “Shake It Out,” which has been getting some local airplay.
As for the other opener, I did not expect to see what I did see from Kentucky rockers Cage the Elephant. I own their most recent self-titled CD, which features some slide guitar and mostly vocals. In concert, this is a punk band, primarily due to lead singer Matt Walsh’s frantic style. He crowd surfed. He walked as far out into the packed crowd as his microphone cable would allow. He jumped from the stage railing. It was the kind of performance one would swear is drug induced. His screeching and movement rarely ceased, except for during a straight ahead treatment of the band’s radio hit “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked.” The group reminded me less of their album self and more of the British band The Arctic Monkeys with their fast-paced delivery and vocal stylings.
Silversun Pickups setlist, as pulled from the stage: 1) Growing Old is Getting Old; 2) Well Thought Out Twinkles; 3) Sort Of; 4) There’s No Secrets This Year; 5) The Royal We; 6) Little Lover’s So Polite; 7) It’s Nice To Know You Work Alone; 8) Future Foe Scenarios; 9) Kissing Families; 10) Catch & Release; 11) Panic Switch; 12) Lazy Eye
Encore: 13) Substitution; 14) Rusted Wheel; 15) Common Reactor
Manchester Orchestra setlist, as pulled from stage: 1) Pride; 2) Shake It Out; 3) Blackman; 4) Friends; 5) Everything to 6) River
Cage the Elephant setlist, as pulled from stage: 1) Dr. Dr. Dr.; 2) Tiny Little Robots; 3) Lotus; 4) Aberdeen; 5) Back Against The Wall; 6) Japanese Buffalo; 7) Free Love; 8) Indie Kids; 9) Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked; 10) In One Ear; 11) Saber-Tooth Tiger