I'm only two weeks late on this one!
As even a cursory search on this blog would show, I've been particularly high on Phoenix since their release of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix earlier this year. This was my first chance to see them live since I discovered them (let's just ignore their first two or three albums for purposes of this discussion, ok?) and I certainly wasn't about to miss out. At first slated for the Riviera, the show was moved a block east to the Aragon to support a larger crowd; some of those people must not have gotten the memo, though, as there was plenty of open space inside.
Opening up was Chairlift, who laid out some great tunes before I even realized they were one of the bands featured in those iPod commercials. They got some great crowd response as they started into "Bruises" and rightfully so.
As for Phoenix, they put on a (predictably) amazing show, throwing out crowd-pleasers right and left from start to finish. Whipping out a little prognostication before the concert, I presaged a setlist running from "Lisztomania" to "1901" with all the usuals in between, and I got exactly what I wanted. Mars took time out repeatedly to thank the crowd for the fantastic response they were getting, going so far as to say, "I wish we had crowds like this back in Paris!" Stuff like that certainly spurred us along as they went through greats like "Armistice" and "Girlfriend". Mars climbed the stage left speaker stack during the encore, only to follow that up by singing from the crowd during an improvised "1901" breakdown to close up the show. In the end, an amazing night from an amazing band.
As usual, I uploaded a few of the best shots from the night to Flickr. None of these are up to my usual standards for sharpness, but the lighting was abnormally dark for a show of this size. C'est la vie!
Phoenix // Chicago, IL // September 23, 2009
- Lisztomania
- Long Distance Call
- Lasso
- Napoleon Says
- Run Run Run
- Armistice
- Fences
- Girlfriend
- Love Like a Sunset Part I
- Love Like a Sunset Part II
- Consolation Prizes
- Rome / Funky Squaredance
- Playground Love
- Too Young
- If I Ever Feel Better
- 1901
Tags: Chicago, Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
