Live Reviews

Phoenix/WFNX Best Music Poll 2008

Passion Pit, Eli "Paperboy" Reed, Bob Mould, Amanda Palmer, the Presidents of the United States of America, and Death Cab for Cutie at Bank of America Pavilion, May 10

By DANIEL BROCKMAN | May 14, 2008

“You guys are troupers!” mused Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard Saturday as he bounded onto the stage to kick off their headlining set. And he wasn’t under any illusions about doing a USO gig — it was freaking cold.

The festivities had begun hours earlier, with energetic odes from local creative anachronists Passion Pit and Eli “Paperboy” Reed to, respectively, the ’80s and the ’50s. This was followed by ex–Hüsker Dü/Sugar frontman Bob Mould, who bashed through a set of mostly new tunes as though he were backed by a really killer backing band. Which he wasn’t, since this was a solo electric gig.

Amanda Palmer serenaded us with a ukulele version of Radiohead’s “Creep,” really emphasizing the lines “What the hell am I doing here? I don’t belong here.” As if! Her adoring fans live for this kind of drama, and once she sat down at her trusty Kurzweil, she had the audience in her palm while introducing tunes from her not-yet-released solo debut. Fellow Dresden Doll Brian Viglione leaped on stage to play guitar on the set’s closer, an ecstatic rendering of the Neutral Milk Hotel classic “Two-Headed Boy.”

The Presidents of the United States of America elicited the first legitimate audience-thrown devil horns of the day — which makes sense because they’ve been transmogrifying ’70s hard-rock conventions into Nerf-ball child’s play since the mid ’90s. Lead dude Chris Ballew channeled an Adrian-Belew-hosting-Blue’s-Clues vibe, and much pogoing did ensue.

Death Cab came on at the magic hour and were intense and epic: their ambiguously anthemic drive notched up the drama without taking the cheap way out, and Ben Gibbard was a blur of motion and energy. I never realized how much he evokes, at his top-dollar best, the well-mannered prep-school romanticism of Mission of Burma’s Clint Conley–sung tunes. “I need you so much closer” indeed: the mantra-like repetition of the set closer, “Transatlanticism,” was taken to heart as the crowd shuffled out into the night, everybody huddling together for warmth.

Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand
Refugees from the heady indie explosion of 2003, Franz and Death Cab are currently sharing space on a concert poster featuring an emo-like Band-Aid heart and a MySpace logo.
Interview: Michael Angelakos of Passion Pit
In 2008, Passion Pit won Best New Artist in our Best Music Poll.
Gorillaz in the midst
Remember the great electronica gold rush of ’97, the year Madonna’s Maverick label won a massive bidding war over long-ignored rave mystic Liam Howlett, a/k/a Prodigy, and we all grooved to the electropunk clash of “Smack My Bitch Up”?
Populous With Short Stories | Drawn in Basic
Fans of Ben Gibbard will savor the insistent charm of Short Stories’ voice: a nasal but deftly melodic boy croon with a flair for neatness and a soft spot for slightly overdone harmonizing.
Passion Pit | Manners
Long have we at the Phoenix trailed the spark as it crackled down the winding wick toward the ostensible powder keg of this, Passion Pit's first full-length release. And why not?
Photos: Passion Pit at Best Music Poll 2009
Photos from Passion Pit's performance at the Boston Phoenix and WFNX's annual Best Music Poll Concert on August 1, 2009 at Boston's City Hall Plaza.
Photos: Backstage with Passion Pit
Passion Pit backstage at WFNX and the Boston Phoenix's Best Music Poll Concert at City Hall Plaza in Boston on August 1, 2009.
Best Music Poll 2009 concert
Stream audio of all the bands' performances, watch video highlights, download interview podcasts, browse concert and behind-the-scenes photos, and share your own photos and videos at the Boston Phoenix Web site or WFNX's site.
Photos: Best of BMP Concert 2009
The best shots from the Best Music Poll concert 2009, August 1, 2009.
The scene is now
As newspapers cede arbiter status to random bloggers with Fios and afternoons off, the function of polls like our humble offering must change out of necessity. What once was a forecast is now more like a diagnostic — it's anthropology versus tastemakery.
Photos: Passion Pit, Phoenix, and Spoon at Orpheum
Photos of Passion Pit, Phoenix, and Spoon performing at WFNX's annual Miracle on Tremont Street
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Topics: Live Reviews , Radiohead, Mission of Burma, Clint Conley, More

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[ 05/27 ] "Battle of the Bands" @ Big Easy

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