Opening up for the night was Sandro Perri, his specific brand of rock has crossed various genres over his career; on this night it had an ideal sound for the warm Phoenix summer. Often it felt as if it was representative of the jovial atmosphere that comes along with summer, reminiscent of those years long past, the ones where we were able to find and have random adventures within any given day. From the beginning, when finding out that he was opening up for Destroyer, the pairing sounded like a great match, and it definitely proved to be—from the similar obscure creation of arrangements, to the periodic instrument solo, that was meant to sound distinct more than it was supposed to be “clean.”
To any followers of The New Pornographers original line-up, or keen Canadian Indie-Rock listeners, the sound that is created by a one Mr. Dan Bejar, isn’t anything new; his unmistakable voice, and experimental sounds have garnered him both fan and critical acclaim. As Destroyer, has been his growing creation since the mid-90’s, the sound and atmosphere that he creates on stage is uniquely his own. As they took to the stage, there was very little interaction, other than a wave towards the audience, and then beginning. This initial distance didn’t necessarily feel odd, but there was a certain sense of disconnect that Dan seemed to have. In between choruses or, whichever instrument solo was currently taking the attention, he would often zone out as he looked off into the distance, or the ground off to the side, maybe reconnecting a memory of the song, or simply just going through the motions of his normal “9-5.” This never threw off the show, nor his performance, it just came off more as another idiosyncrasy of a creative.
With a shorter than usual set, (at least by customary concert standards,) Dan left the audience wanting for more, with a single song encore, maybe it just wasn’t our night. Maybe Dan had too many Modelo’s, who’s to say really? All we can comment on is the show itself, and what he did play. With the short set being the really the only complaint, Bejar and his crew put on a great performance, hopefully they’ll be back through sometime in the near future, and hopefully next time we’ll get a decent set length, just saying.
- The Music Lovers
- Savage Night at the Opera
- European Oils
- Downtown
- English Music
- Kaputt
- Looters’ Follies
- Chinatown
- Rubies
- Libby’s First Sunrise
- Suicide Demo for Kara Walker
- Encore:Blue Eyes