The big news regarding Passion Pit’s winter tour may have been their headlining show at New York City’s iconic Madison Square Garden, viagra but their Sunday night performance at Agganis hardly felt like a footnote. Vocalist/songwriter Michael Angelakos and guitarist/keyboardist Ian Hultquist formed the band just across the river in Cambridge, find and on stage Angelakos fondly recalled playing shows at Great Scott and the Middle East long before a record contract was even a consideration. Angelakos found himself addressing thousands of adoring fans from one of Boston’s biggest stages on Sunday night, and there was surely a note of triumph in his voice.
With the release of 2012’s excellent Gossamer, Passion Pit have officially gone from indie darlings to household names. Given the addictive nature of the band’s inconceivably catchy synth-pop, that’s no big surprise. What is surprising is the often dark nature of Angelakos’ lyrics, which deal with broken hearts, addictions and a whole lot of personal neuroses. Passion Pit’s sugar-coated sound might seem deceptively upbeat for the subject matter, but a careful balance of the two presents instantly cathartic singalongs as effective coping mechanisms. The weekend blizzard and subsequent rescheduling may have kept the arena a few heads shy of full, but every last fan who trudged through the snow and ice was very much prepared for those singalongs.
Brooklyn duo Matt and Kim did their part in getting the audience moving as the evening’s opening act. The couple had energy and charisma to spare as they delivered a set of simple drums-and-keys pop songs. Musicianship is not one of Matt and Kim’s strengths, but it’s hard to deny their ear for melody and their ability to work a crowd. Goofy hip-hop dance breaks and crowd-walking antics kept things interesting, but even by the end of an abbreviated opening set the charm had started to wear thin.
The opening seconds of Passion Pit’s headlining set drew an immediate contrast to the stripped-down sound of their openers. The band was five members strong: Angelakos, Hultquist, drummer Chris Hartz, bassist Jeff Apruzzese and synth/sample wizard Xander Singh. They recreated the often dense arrangements of their recorded work with impressive accuracy and appropriately bouncy energy. Reviews of Passion Pit’s live performances once cited Angelakos’ lack of stage presence as their downfall, but on Sunday he seemed hell-bent on proving the inaccuracy of such claims. Performing like a born showman, Angelakos engaged the crowd, offered them his microphone for some of the band’s many huge choruses and remained in a state of seemingly perpetual motion throughout the set.
This jubilant Boston homecoming, fresh off the much-publicized Garden show, was an impressive and crowd-pleasing display. A 17-song set saw the majority of the band’s two studio albums performed, including massive Gossamer single “Take A Walk” and an encore of Manners favorite “Sleepyhead.” Start to finish, the crowd was loving it. Blizzard be damned – this was a triumphant weekend for Passion Pit.
Photo Credit: Ben Stas