Concert review: Grizzly Bear at Berklee, Boston 6/3

Concert review: Grizzly Bear at Berklee Performance Center, Boston, MA June 3, 2009

The first time I saw Grizzly Bear live—at a crowded, stiflingly hot club in Northampton, Massachusetts—was the moment I went from being a casual fan to a mildly obsessed one. These four sweaty, slightly goofy guys put on a dazzling, energetic, virtuosic show, one that transformed the cramped space into a collective religious experience.

Nearly two years later at the Berklee Performance Center, I realized Grizzly Bear are on their way up in the world. Last night’s venue was five times bigger, the audience was sitting down, and the band members were cool and collected under a light show in shifting tones of red, blue, and green.

Other than that, though, you’d never know that Veckatimest, one of the most (deservedly) hyped albums of the year, just made #8 on the US Billboard charts. Grizzly Bear’s unclassifiable live sound—a blend of four-part harmonies and folky strumming, fifties-style pop hooks and dramatic climaxes—remains as astonishing as ever.

At last night’s show, the band turned much of their older material inside out, giving “Colorado” and the rhythmic “Fix It” an added depth and expansiveness. They’ve probably played “Knife” a billion times by now (as shown by the loud applause that flared up on the first notes) but somehow they made it new.

The band played actual newer stuff, too, including the pretty, piano-driven “Two Weeks,” and my favorites “Ready, Able” and “While You Wait for the Others.”  The new material was a bit more faithful to the album versions, but I’m sure that eventually these songs, too, will sound completely different in a live setting. The only letdown was the relative lack of lead vocals by guitarist Dan Rossen, whose rough-edged voice provides the perfect counterpart to singer Ed Droste’s sweeter, more soaring tones.

That’s a minor disappointment, though, from what was a truly stellar live show. If you’re a fan, try to catch Grizzly Bear in concert as soon as you can; at the rate they’re going, two years from now they’ll be headlining their first world stadium tour.  -Anna Kramer

photo of Ed & Dan by Kate Vacanti

Hear Grizzly Bear's recent full set performed in-studio for NPR at WNYC here.

Live Review: Asobi Seksu @ the Middle East, Cambridge, 3/30/09

With this review, extrawack! welcomes new Boston correspondent Anna Kramer...

Asobi Seksu at the Middle East, Cambridge, March 30, 2009

Last night’s show began with an unexpected twist: A last-minute move from the 500-person capacity Middle East Downstairs club to the much smaller Upstairs section of the venue. But whatever this shift may have meant for Asobi Seksu, they didn’t seem to mind. “This show got a lot more intimate, but that’s okay,” said vocalist/keyboardist Yuki Chikudate. “Now we’re a whole lot closer together.”

Asobi Seksu’s music has always been about balance, especially on 2007’s stunning Citrus, which cut sweet vocals with all-out shoegaze guitars. With their latest album, Hush, Yuki and guitarist James Hanna turned the noise down a bit, resulting in melodies so ethereal they sometimes threaten to dissolve and float away completely.

Last night, though, the band set out to prove they were firmly anchored on earth. Armed with a bassist and drummer—and lit eerily by blue and pink Christmas lights—they opened with a pounding, percussive version of “Sing Tomorrow’s Praise” that set the tone for a noise-drenched, epic set. New songs like “Meh No Mae” and “In the Sky” took on added depth and resonance with a more prominent rhythm section, while Yuki’s vocals soared high and pure above the sonic assault, especially on the more melodic “Blind Little Rain.”

Citrus was well represented too, with the angular “Strawberries” and my personal favorite, “Thursday,” with its Slowdive-esque male-female vocals. But it was the combination of “Pink Cloud Tracing Paper” and “Red Sea” that brought the show to a climax. Strobe lights stuttered, James flailed his guitar madly, and Yuki even took a turn on drums as the last song veered into a ten-minute-plus monumental drone that still has my ears ringing the next day.

Despite a few seeming omissions from the set list—No “Me & Mary”? No songs from their self-titled debut?—I left feeling like I had experienced something unexpectedly special: The chance to see a very big-sounding band on a very, very small stage.