Chicago Concert Review: Passion Pit @ the Empty Bottle

THE VENUE:

This was my first time at Empty Bottle, but I would definitely go back. The sound was great and the volumes were perfect. For going to two shows in a row (and already being afflicted with tinnitus), I only needed a single night's sleep to get my ears back to normal after this one. It was pretty small, probably not more than 5-600 capacity, if that, and sort of V-shaped with the point being at the foot of the stage (which was only about three feet off the ground), and the arms branching away. For you Iowa City folk, a bit like the Picador, only cleaner and with better sound.

THE BAND:

PPit killed it. They were so into it. Every member of the five-piece band bobbing and dancing while playing, which was impressive considering the mess of synths up there (3 in all). I had listened to NPR's live broadcast of Passion Pit's performance at the 9:30 Club a couple weeks ago, and wasn't overly impressed. The vocals sounded a little wispy and a little wimpy. Happily, when you're actually there, hearing it live, they sound just fine, although, to be honest, it was a little tough to tell, what with at least half the crowd singing every word to every song in singer Michael Angelakos' signature falsetto, no less.

THE CROWD:

I was actually really nervous about the crowd on this one, mostly because everyone that told me that they were going to get a ticket did not get a ticket. Yes, I went by myself (and not the first show I ever went to alone [the Decemberists @ the Mill way back when]), which was a little unnerving. I know that everyday I wake up and tell myself "Christopher: sing like no one is listening, dance like no one is watching, and love like you'll never get hurt," but when you're actually in a room full of hipsters by yourself and it comes time to sing and dance, you sort of feel like EVERYONE IS WATCHING. In general, the crowd seemed to divided up into different pockets of people, some pockets were pretty immobile, others were pretty dynamic, and the front was like a GD rave. I was fairly close to the front, but unfortunately in a sort of no-dance zone. Luckily, a dude and dudette next to me kept bumping into me and apologizing. I was all like "chill y'all! It's a concert and we should all be bumping into each other!" and they were all like "OMG let's dance" and then we srsly boogied for the rest of the set. Dance truly is the universal language.

THE HIGHLIGHTS:

Well, we can knock out the obvious one: "Sleepyhead." Sounded great live, got a great response from the crowd. They played a few others from Chunk of Change which, to me, didn't sound all that impressive. As for the new album, one of the ones that surprised me live was "Make Light." That shiz was the jam. Huge crowd response for "Little Secrets." "Folds In Your Hands" was reeeeaaall slick live. The little breaks you hear on the album were made super-dancey sounding live. My hips weren't lying on that song. The best song of the night, however, had to be encore song "The Reeling." Angelakos ditched the synth-work to focus entirely on frontman duties, leaning off the stage and jamming the microphone out into the crowd to get a huge call-and-response session of "oh no-oh-oh's" before ending the night with a heartfelt "thank you" to the crowd.

BIGGEST COMPLAINT:

Late start and short set-time. The band didn't go on until after 11.45 p.m. on Sunday night and was done by 12.40 a.m, less than an hour in all. I understand that they've only got one full album out plus a short EP, but there were more than a few songs that they hadn't played. Could have beefed it up a bit. Regardless, I highly recommend seeing a Passion Pit show in the near future, while they're still playing in small venues. And bring friends. I can't even imagine what that show would have been like had I had two or three scopies with me. I'm actually scared to imagine it. Would have danced myself to death.

OVERALL RATING:

A-.