i was there || phoenix

Show: Phoenix

Location: Aragon Ballroom

Date: 9.28.13

Favorite Song: "Love Like A Sunset" part one + part two. Listen to that song live + try to tell me it isn't completely chilling + moving. The first time I heard it I was completely mesmerized. I felt exactly the same way when I heard it last night. Honorable mention goes to "Rome."

Memorable Moment: I love a little audience involvement + "wow" factor, so when Thomas Mars climbed to the top of the balcony I had to applaud. I was hoping for him to dive off Steve Aoki style, but no such luck.

Biggest Letdown: The sound was okay, but I'm still not sold on the Aragon. It was a million degrees in there + just too crowded. The music was heard well enough, but I couldn't make sense of anything the band was saying. That didn't matter so much for this show, but I was quite pissed off about this malfunction during LCD Soundsystem's final tour.

This Show: was closure. I saw Phoenix 3 or 4 years ago when they performed at Lollapalooza. If I've learned anything about concerts over the years it is that you can't judge a band on their festival performance. There are just too many variables that mess with the actual music. It's not that their Lolla set years ago wasn't good, I just knew I needed to eventually see them indoors + I'm very happy I did.