Last Tuesday, British psychedelic indie trio Alt-J returned to Boston. Continuing what seems to be a quest to play every venue in town (previous shows were at Brighton Music Hall, The Paradise and the Bank of America Pavilion), the guys took the stage at the Orpheum for an impressive and enormous set that more than justified their choice to play the most theatrical setting yet. Despite some moments late in set that dragged, Alt-J kept the focus on their most beloved songs, making for a dynamic evening squarely aimed at pleasing fans.
Opener Mikky Ekko got things off to a bit of a snooze-worthy start. The up-and-coming R&B singer, best known so far for the dubious honor of being featuring on a Rhianna single, played an hour of entirely predictable if fairly well-assembled music. Don’t get me wrong, Ekko has an incredibly strong voice and his band did a totally serviceable job backing him, but Ekko’s place in the increasingly annoying blue-eyed soul over some electronics trend (looking at you, Sam Smith) made the set seem hackneyed. Other than the very cool “Pull You Down,” which Ekko cowrote with extraordinarily under-appreciated hip hop producer Clams Casino, nothing sounded anything close to remarkable. Ekko clearly has a lot of natural talent which I’m sure will see his debut album sell very well in Starbucks stores, but a general lack of imagination made this performance a let down.
Unsurprisingly, Alt-J opened their set in theatrical fashion, walking onto a red-hued, smoke-filled stage to play Hunger of the Pine (complete with the wonderfully out-of-place Miley Cyrus sample). This enigmatic presence fell away with their second number, though, an riotous rendition of their bawdy hit Fitzpleasure. The stage erupted with light as the LED panels behind them lit up with psychedelic imagery and stage lights swayed decisively over both the band and the front of the audience. It was an intense and well-planned visual presentation that, throughout the set, added enough stimulation to bring out the best in the songs while never overshadowing the performers.
Somewhat surprisingly, though certainly not disappointingly, the band focused most of their set around material from their superior first album, An Awesome Wave. Most of the fans were pretty happy with this decision- while This is All Yours had some standout moments it never hit the heights of their earlier work. The band put spectacular energy into these tracks, turning the early one-two-three of “Something Good,” “Dissolve Me” and “Matilda” into a high-energy sing-along that got almost the entire audience out of their plush seats and dancing. Through the set, they hit almost all of the important moments of the first album, including “Intro,” “Taro,” Ms” and their closer “Breezeblocks,” which certainly had the crowd happy. In fact, the only disappointment in this regard was the general omission of the album’s moving “Interlude” series, only using the first to lead into “Tesselate.” However, given their clear awareness of covering all the bases that their fans were there for, this made for only a minor quibble.
As for the new material, it sounded decent. Performances of the singles, particularly standout track “Every Other Freckle” and the blues-rocker “Left Hand Free” showed the dynamism of these tracks, with them slotting in very nicely with their more well-warn songs. However, as the set moved on, particularly in the extended encore, the group delved into some of their more ponderous, less satisfying material. Tracks like “Warm Foothills” and “Nara” certainly aren’t bad, but lacked the magic and drive of Alt-J’s other work, and as a result made the show drag. I certainly wouldn’t fault them for giving the new tracks a shot live, and actually commend them for saving them until the end to make sure the audience wasn’t warn out for their favorites, but given the excellent song selection until the end these numbers stuck out like a soar thumb.
Song choice aside though, this was one hell of the performance, with each member of Alt-J reproducing their parts perfectly while most also showed a dynamic stage presence. Lead singer/guitarist Joe Newman had a slightly otherworldly swagger about him, moving in an off-kilter but decisive in way that matched well with his distinctively odd but absolutely on-point vocal work. Keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton did the keys justice while also relishing each of his moments of background vocals, harmonizing and hamming just a bit while never letting a melody falter. New touring member Cameron Knight lacked the enigmatic stage presence of departed bassist/guitarist Gwil Sainsbury, but did a perfectly fine job rounding out the band’s sound.
The star of the show, though, was drummer Thom Green (not related to the director of pulp masterpiece/cinematic abomination Freddy Got Fingered). Playing on a Frankenstein-like kit made up of everything from traditional kicks and electronic pads to bongos and steel drums, he reproduced sounds on the album that I thought would have been impossible live, forcing a reliance on pads. He also never faltered on even the more difficult polyrhythms, hammering powerfully and providing a constant source of dynamic energy onstage. Green was an absolute joy to watch, bringing altogether far more to the table here than your average indie band drummer.
In enormous contrast to their boring opener, Alt-J put on a visually and sonically dazzling set that gave fans just about everything they could have asked for. Though some of their second album digressions later on slowed things down a bit, their focus on the material that fans preferred showed an awareness that most bands on their second album lack, while their incredible stage presence and overwhelming musical skill made for a performance that won’t be soon be forgotten. While Alt-J may be in a bit of a creative slump at the moment, this show proved beyond a reasonable doubt that they can still put on one hell of a show.
