Gig Watch : Passion Pit

Passion Pit

Review by Kathryn Mahina

I don't think I have ever seen the Corner Hotel band room so full at 9pm in the evening, with a swarm of devoted Passion Pit fans camped out in front of the main stage awaiting ,what has been hyped as, one the must see live shows of the summer.

First up though were locals Love of Diagrams. In spite of being crammed onto the smaller second stage Love of Diagrams blew the crowd away with a ferociously loud rocking set. These guys remind me a lot of Sonic Youth and The Pixies with their dark grunge sound.

An interesting choice of support for Passion Pit who are the musical equivalent of sunshine and fairy floss. Nonetheless Love of Diagrams are an amazing live act who seemed very into their music and created an intensely brooding atmosphere with reverb bouncing off the walls. 

They ripped through a solid thirty minute set with bass player and vocalist Antonia Sellbach roaring along to the massive guitars.

Love of Diagrams did an excellent job of psyching the audience up for the American wonders Passion Pit. The band room erupted with cheers as soon as the curtains of the main stage began to open and a long intro to I’ve Got Your Number overwhelmed the PA. 

As Passion Pit took to the stage the room disappeared in a blur of sweat and limbs as everyone present got their boogie on, including the band who were all singing and dancing along to the electronic pop goodness.

Vocalist Michael Angelakos is a beguiling front man, with his uber hot dancing and unique helium inspired falsetto (and yes his voice does actually sound like that in real life, its not just a studio effect). It was absolutely fantastic to see a band enjoying themselves doing what they love, with an impassioned performance full of energy and life.

They seemed slightly overwhelmed by the amount of love the fans were showing, with a massive sing-a-long to every song they played, with Angelakos stating ‘‘we’re pleased to be here in Melbourne and meet a big crowd that sings along with us. Thanks for supporting us and buying tickets to our shows, I know they were expensive."

Passion Pit ploughed through a phenomenal set with frenetic enthusiasm, playing most of the songs from the debut LP Manners, and sounding even better live than they do in the studio. 

Highlights of the set included an early appearance of Better Things, a hit from their Chunk of Change EP released back in 2008, some violent dancing to The Reeling, a few tender lighter in the air style moments with Moth’s Wings and Let Your Love Grow Tall, before giving their all to a chaotic rendition of Little Secrets. The latter layered with an overkill of 80s computer game style sound effects.

Angelakos drew the crowd into a frenzy with his wild dancing, jumping up and singing on the barriers and getting so caught up in his performance that he even fell off the stage. In turn the crowd went ape shit and were screaming for more as the boys walked off stage to prepare for their encore.

Passion Pit toned down the drama with a magnificent version of Eyes As Candles and followed this with a surprise cover of the Cranberries hit Dreams before ending the night on a high with their final song, break out single Sleepyhead.

This is one band that more than lives up to the hype surrounding their live shows. Don't be to sad if you missed them on their first trip down under as Angelakos mentioned that they hope to be back on our sunny shores in a few months time. 

Passion Pit know how to party and put on what is sure to be one of the best live shows of this year. My heads still reeling from the electro fuzz madness.

Good work Passion Pit, come back to Australia soon.

Brought To You By The Dwarf