Tracks Monkeys With Lasers

Passion Pit were not a band I was familiar with when a friend of mine asked a few months ago whether I wanted to see them with him at the Forum. I decided to take a punt and agreed to go along and got myself a copy of the album shortly afterwards so I knew what I was letting myself in for. The album wasn’t too bad I thought and I was intruiged as to how they would be live as I had heard a lot of good things about their shows.

In the end, said friend couldn’t even make it so I ventured off to Kentish Town on my lonesome for yet another previously unvisited venue. I got there easily enough and was mildly surprised at how big the venue was but I had arrived a little later than I wanted so the first support band, Little Death, had already taken to the stage so it was a quick jog to the front to see what they had to offer. They had a sound that reminded me in places of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart but with a bit more of an indie rock edge to them than the ‘dream pop’ sound of the aforementioned band. The one thing they were though was loud. And as I had taken up a position next to the speakers, this wasn’t overly welcome. They were alright overall but didn’t do too much for me to be honest.

The second support act on the night was to be Ellie Goulding, who won a Brit Award apparently. As you may be able to tell, I’d never heard of the lass before but seemingly most people in the crowd had. Her set ended up being a pleasant surprise to me having never heard any of her work before and it was the perfect set to come just before Passion Pit as well I felt. Her shameless electro indie-pop sound really got the crowd in the right mood and she had one of the strongest vocal performances I’ve seen in a while. Her backing band were really tight, allowing her voice to take control of the sound and as well as singing, she also played a bit of acoustic guitar and joined in with a bit of drumming too (by the way, is this some new musical fashion to have a second drum on stage as this was the third gig in a row where someone did this..)

As I said, I was really surprised with her set and the fact she seemed so humble on stage only added to the charm. I can safely say it won’t be too long before she’s headlining venues like this.

Then it was time for the main act to take to the stage. As Passion Pit took to the stage, the pyramid of screens/lights behind them launched into some sort of fireworks display which was the beginning of a rather aesthetic gig. They started with a song that I didn’t recognise, which I later found out was ‘I’ve Got Your Number’ from their debut EP. A couple of other old songs made it into the set but it was definitely the album tracks that got the crowd going.

The first album track was the album opener ‘Make Light’ which definitely sparked the start of their gig properly as it sounded absolutely great. My favourite tracks off the album, ‘Moths Wings’ and ‘Swimming In The Flood’, also sounded absolutely superb with the sound being almost perfect at the venue, only being a bit distorted because of my proximity to the speakers.

The whole set was backed up by some rather classy lighting which flitted between all out bright colours from the screens mentioned before to dark and moody and this only helped enhance the gig further. The band were spot on as well and the frontman, Michael Angelakos, bounded around the stage, singing into the crowd and occasionally taking his place behind one of the many keyboards/synths littered around the stage. The crowd themselves also helped make the gig so good with plenty of dancing and jumping and singing along too.

The closer of the main set showed the crowd in fine form with chants of ‘higher and higher’ to the chorus of ‘Little Secrets’ which may have been one of the highlights of the night. The encore consisted of ‘Eyes As Candles’ which was okay but the final song of the night was one that the crowd had been shouting for the entire show and it’s fair to say it was well worth the wait to hear ‘Sleepyhead’ which saw everyone present get a little bit excited.

I’d gone into this gig not really knowing what to expect and hadn’t been a huge fan of the album but in the end the show was better than I had ever expected. The band, lighting and crowd all combined brilliantly to create such a fantastic atmosphere and there is no doubt that I would see these guys again next time they tour.

Passion Pit – Sleepyhead (live)