Just two short days after I returned from maybe the best weekend ever at Coachella, I was lucky enough to attend a show at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor featuring an old favorite in The Antlers and an up and coming favorite in Phantogram. A double bill that I could really get excited about.

The last time I’d seen the Antlers was last fall at the Majestic Cafe with about 25 other people, so I was surprised to see the line all the way around the block. But, both bands have gained a lot of attention since then, and it was a Friday night, as opposed to the Tuesday show I’d seen a few months back. After seeing Mike, Natalia and Anna (who I embarrassingly didn’t recognize at first) in line and chatting with them a bit, we finally got in the door around 10PM, luckily before Phantogram began their set. Notice anything interesting about the sign on the window?

Phantogram’s set (not to be confused with Phantomgram, who apparently was also playing at the Pig that night) kicked off with a favorite of mine, “As Far As I Can See“, complete with strobe light on the floor, which was a pretty cool little effect. My girl Sarah was looking fantastic in a Maps & Atlases tshirt and she sounded even better. I wasn’t too sure what to expect from their two person live show, but I think it sounded even better than on the album. The beats on their album are pretty killer I think and they are even better when blasted through music venue speakers. I wish there could have been some more dancing from the crowds, but everyone was pretty into the group. Another highlight for me was “Turn It Off”, which is one of those songs that I never realized that I loved until hearing it live. The band gave a nice shout out to Ann Arbor’s own Ghostly International for releasing their album on vinyl and then played the vinyl bonus track, which I’d never heard, and it was good.

Aside from their great performance, you can just tell that Josh and Sarah are generally cool/nice people and not pretentious at all, despite all of the recent success they’ve experienced. I do feel lucky to have seen them at such a small venue because I have a feeling that won’t be the case the next time they are in town.

Phantogram – Turn It Off

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After a brief intermission (during with Nadia managed to get to the far away bathroom and rejoin me right up front), the Antlers took the stage in what I already knew would be a great performance having seen them before. The theme of their setup was plants and pedals. Both guitarist/vocalist Peter Silberman and keyboardist (is that a word?) Darby Cicci seemed to be surrounded by an endless number of pedals and each had a small plant on their respective tables. Apologies to drummer Michael Lerner, whom I was unable to photograph but who was arguably the MVP of the night. With most of their tunes building and changing tempos throughout, he was the man running the show, and it produced a really exciting effect for an album that is great to listen to at home but has the potential to be a bit of a snoozer in a live setting. But make no mistake, this definitely was not the case.

What I enjoy so much about their live show is the huge contrasts between quiet and loud found in almost every song. They started out at the beginning of their classic Hospice album with “Kettering” and a rockin’ rendition of “Sylvia” that was almost indistinguishable in the beginning. And quite a few of the songs went into little outro jams. It’s so great to hear tunes that you love so much and are so familiar with being played in a whole new way. Peter thanked the crowd halfway through for not smoking because they were all coming down with sore throats (and I was pretty happy about the no smoking either, which, as of this Saturday, May 1 will be statewide. Kind of awesome). Another great addition to the songs in the live setting (besides the great drumming and tempo changes) was the work of Darby on those keyboards. All of the effects he was laying into those tracks was a welcome addition and always complimented the tunes without overpowering them. And, I like electronic sounds, in case you didn’t know.

After playing through almost all of their album (plus one new song), they left the stage to the sound of the roaring crowd and then came back out to encore with a slowed down version of “VCR” by The XX which I can’t say that I loved, but it was still nice to hear, and then they closed out the night with “Wake” (or was it “Epilogue”? I think that closed out the first set). I never claimed to have a good memory. All in all a solid Friday night.

The Antlers – Epilogue

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