PDX boys Hockey
Last night was the first time that the Crystal has ever hosted Hockey and they faced off against Passion Pit.
“You may not know this, but we’re from here,” announced Hockey’s singer Ben Grubin as the band blistered through a short set of new wave, dance rock cuts from their debut album Mind Chaos.
The five guys looked endearingly lost on a big stage but didn’t fail to command a presence, clinging to the front and engaging the audience. Grubin later bemusedly commented that it was pure “bass” up there with the stage shaking and quaking to their rock rhythms.
Grubin picked up an extra set of drumsticks to bang out the end of “Song Away” and guitarist Brian White shredded wicked, quick on “Preacher” as Grubin knelt praying, bathed in a cerise glow.
The boys blasted the dance-jam “Too Fake” as the ballroom filled with gleeful bodies, and in a blink, they were ushered off, adhering to a strict schedule.
For some ridiculous reason, Anya Marina entered to play a two-song set that lasted less than 15 minutes, well less than the time it took to set up the stage for her guitar and pre-recorded MIDI drumming. After some useless banter and a name drop of Twilight (her song “Satellite Heart” appears on the soundtrack) to flooding boos, I don’t think she’ll try that again tonight as she holds an awkward intermission spot for all the December to Remember shows. Think she’ll play the same two tracks every night?
Boston boys Passion Pit
Passion Pit slid into the rink with undue calm confronted by a barrage of screaming teens. Their actions exclaimed, “Percussion is in!” with mallets flying and a wooden clack that rivaled Dr. Fünke’s 100% Natural Good-Time Family Band Solution.
The beginning of Passion Pit’s live set lacked the energy and drop-dead precision that their album brings on every track as the band went through the motions in slo-mo with singer Michael Angelakos’ screechy falsetto wavering forlornly. With “Little Drummer Boy” pa-rump-a-pump-pumps, the tempo oscillated from sluggish to acute noise salvos.
The switch was slowly flipped as fans roared along to the floating ooooh’s of “Let Your Love Grow Tall” and heads exploded as the synthy opening to “Little Secrets” dropped.
As the electrical connections were stimulated, the set finally juiced with energy on “Sleepyhead” straight into the encore of “Moth’s Wings” as unlikely crowd surfing broke out and girls jumped onstage to shake it with the visibly bemused band.
Chants of “Oh noooo” and new wave synths on “The Reeling” left torsos convulsing as Hockey reappeared onstage to bang drums like a wild pack of jackals. And the boys hustled off stage having played just about all of their 11 or so songs while Journey piped over the sound system and everyone bee lined for exits into the chill of the night.
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December to Remember
Monday, December 7, 2009
Passion Pit
Hockey
Anya Marina
Crystal Ballroom
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