LimeWire Music Blog

With four albums spanning almost a decade, Parisian group Phoenix is finally moving from the periphery to center stage. Their latest, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, is a tremendous record. It sees the band diverging into more cohesive pop territory (that began with 2006’s It’s Never Been Like That). Gone are the soul and garage inklings that defined their early works, instead being replaced with infectious singles. Wolfgang is already a contender for best album of the year, and with a sold-out show, fans took notice.

Before Phoenix hit the stage, Brooklyn band Amazing Baby performed a handful of rock/psychedelic songs from their debut album Rewild. The shaggy hair band adorned headbands and evoked fellow buzz band MGMT. They opened with the gritty and affable “Headdress” and ended on a fuzzy, Krautrock-esque instrumental tune. The band proved to be a good opener, causing the already packed audience to anticipate Phoenix even more.

Finally, it was Phoenix’s time to shine. Thomas Mars and crew came out and played hit song “Lizstomania” in the dark. During the chorus, bursts of strobes and spotlights illuminated the darkened venue. The minimal lightning scheme carried throughout the entire show with strategic moments of light saved for choruses and bridges of songs. The first few songs sounded great, but it took a while for the band’s momentum to snowball. When the band finally let the music rip with mass intensity, it was awe-inspiring. A few songs into their set, Phoenix played the epic track “Funky Squaredance” from United. In it’s entirety, it’s almost ten minutes long, but they played an abridged version starting the song six minutes in.

The vocoder mixed with railing guitars generated a prog sensibility. After a couple of more from Wolfgang, Phoenix segued into the composition “Love Like a Sunset.” Phoenix wasn’t afraid to play some of their more “challenging” songs live. Like “Squaredance,” “Sunset” was a bit unusual compared to their typical hooky songs. “Sunset” began with glitchy beeps, warm synths, and a plucked bass. The instrumental song slowly built up into a crescendo, and when Mars chimed in on vocals, the song transformed into an incredibly beautiful piece. Unfortunately, the audience seemed slightly bored and maybe confused with the break in momentum (except for a couple of lighters lit), but the song demonstrated the band’s underrated instrumental complexity. Afterwards, Phoenix returned to the rock with Alphabetical fave “Run Run Run” that generated a shitstorm sound of bass/drum/clapping combination at the end.

Phoenix is a master of building songs up and allowing them to explode at the right moments, so it wasn’t surprising what they did with “1901.” With whatever energy Mars had left, he seriously made a mad dash for the finish. During the chorus, the audience chanted along, “It’s 20 seconds ’till last call, singing ‘hey, hey, hey!’” Hands and fists flailed in the air, and the music was loud and awesome. “1901″ appeared to end, but after a minute pause, it picked up again. This time Mars spilled into the audience. He’s hoisted up like a football player who just scored the winning touchdown. A cool-as-a-cucumber Mars kept singing and eventually arrived safely back onstage. The drummer smacked his high-hat for the last time, and an grateful Mars and band meandered off-stage.

Phoenix put on a well-rounded set that drew from all of their albums. I was pleasantly surprised to hear their older nuggets like “Funky Squaredance” and “Too Young.” Absent were “Fences” and “One Time Too Many,” but I guess they can’t play them all. Dedicated fans have always known Phoenix’s talent, but with an incredible new album and the ability to be rock stars live, Phoenix solidified its place not only in music created by Frenchmen (i.e, Air, Daft Punk, and Justice), but in the hearts of romantics everywhere. I guess you had to be there.

images by Garin Pirnia

Phoenix setlist:

1. “Lisztomania”
2. “Long Distance Call”
3. “Consolation Prizes”
4. “Lasso”
5. “Napoleon Says”
6. “Funky Squaredance”
7. “Rally”
8. “Girlfriend”
9. “Armistice”
10. “Love Like a Sunset”
11. “Run Run Run”
12. “Too Young”
13. “Sometimes in the Fall”
14. “Rome”

Encore:

1. “If I Ever Feel Better”
2. “1901″

Phoenix’’s Thomas Mars explains why his band gave away “1901″ on LWMB TV.