Last night Alt-J (or ∆ — which is actually perfect) performed at Stubb’s and killed it.
After leaving my family in Houston for a rainy 3 hour drive back to Austin, I headed to dinner on Rainey St. to meet some friends pre-concert. Based on the crowd, around 7 o’clock we were expecting every person at Banger’s to get up and head to the same place as us.
Once we reached Stubb’s, we grabbed some Lonestars and settled into our spots in the lazy humidity that was covering the night. It never rained, it just hovered on the edge, which gave the entire evening this particular aura. As Lord Huron walked on stage the entire crowd lit up, eyes wide. I couldn’t help but notice how familiar the songs sounded, mostly because I crammed hardcore before the concert, but also mostly because the songs make you feel like you have known them forever. The focus of the songs is not on the lead singer, in fact you can hardly hear him most of the time. The focus instead lies on sounds you hear during fulfilling moments – like the sound of wind chimes in the breeze or the rush of ocean (see Lonesome Dreams). The highlights for me were She Lit a Fire and The Stranger (which closed the set).
Alt-J entered a short 45 minutes later to the likes of Rack City, I kid you not. The show was sold out and crowd was electric – with their favorite songs dropping edgy beats. There was a noticeably sensual vibe to the entire show – at one point there was a girl who snuck on the stage in a bra dancing to Fitzpleasure (which if you know what the song is about… it was quite questionable.) But overall, the night had been everything I had wanted, which was impressive because my expectations were high. Dissolve Me was my favorite to see.
ETHEREAL / VIBES 