Future Islands @ 9:30 Club - 5/1/14
Photos by Richie Downs www.richiedowns.com
There are shows and then there are SHOWS. Future Islands tour closing set at the sold out 9:30 Club last Thursday was emphatically, and with all its heart, the latter.
Since 2006, the Baltimore mainstays have been hammering away at their weird brand of hyper-emotive synth-rock, and for whatever reason – be it a Letterman performance that went viral, or just the fact that in Singles the band has made their best release to date – it is safe to say that they have, at long last, finally arrived.
Sam Herring of Future Islands sharing his feelings with the sold out 9:30 Club crowd on the last stop of the bands tour.
From the first rolling bass hits of Singles’ “Back In The Tall Grass” to the final fading melancholy of “Little Dreamer” (off of their 2008 release Wave Like Home) front-man Samuel Herring – who was suffering from tonsillitis – gave it his all and in the end didn’t leave a single soul unsatisfied, including his own. Much has been said about the polarizing nature of Herring’s performance; over the top dramatic dance moves coupled with vocals that can go anywhere from a soulful croon, to a guttural roar. How you relate to that in a large part relates to how you view or enjoy, or don’t enjoy, Future Islands’ music.
If it connects with you then you’re already speaking the bands language, but for those who haven’t quite “gotten” the band yet (not that there’s anything really to get) I would offer up this interpretation of their performance: While he may look like some sort of not-so-mini descendant of Henry Rollins, Herring is for the most part singing about some truly beautiful stuff. He’s exploring the softer side of the human condition and exposing basic nerves that lesser songwriters might tend to avoid.
Take that and wrap it up in some slightly beefed up late-80’s synth pop, and the whole thing threatens to become sort of ridiculous until you see Herring’s reaction to the art he’s creating. While the rest of the band acts as dutiful technicians, working through the often chilly sounds associated with machine driven rock, Herring gyrates and howls in a show of release that may be the one of the largest public nerd-gasms the music world has ever seen.
And it’s not an act. The man is feeling everything he’s singing about right along with the audience. If anything, he’s tapping into that shameless place in all of us that would they could, furiously air guitar to each and every Kansas song, sing Mr. Roboto at the top of our lungs – in public - and dance their ass off to no discernable rhythm to tie it all together in a nice, what-the-actual-f#$#-just-happened style bow.
The point here is that in the face of all that, it’s impossible try and explain this particular Future Islands show to anyone who wasn’t there. Sure banter happened, songs were played. If you’re looking for a play by play recap, the whole show is streaming over at NPR right now. But the real takeaway from Thursday night’s show was that it was a triumph of both artistic endeavors and community. More to the point, it was like riding an ever cresting wave of pure, heart-on-your-sleeve awesome that kept going up, up, UP, and despite the show being long over, may not have crashed to the sand yet.
And goddamn if it didn’t renew at least one person’s faith in live music.
Click to enlarge images
SETLIST
Back In the Tall Grass
Sun In The Morning
Balance
Before the Bridge
A Dream of You and Me
Doves
A Song for Our Grandfathers
Light House
Seasons (Waiting On You)
Spirit
Walking Through That Door
Long Flight
Encore:
Tin Man
Old Friend
Vireo's Eye
Little Dreamer
