The Polyphonic Spree at 9:30 6/30

Thanks to NPR, I have a setlist (with no section numbers, because that would be stupid or far more anal about a band than I feel comfortable). Plus, the wait for that led to... me spending time to link to flickr and a blog! That has youtube links! And was written by a younger person! So you get pictures along with my witty commentary!

Together We're Heavy
Running Away
Hanging around the Day, Pt. 2
Get up & Go
Hold Me Now
It's the Sun
Light To Follow
Younger Yesterday
The Fragile Army
La La
Watch Us Explode (Justify)
We Crawl
The Championship
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Sonic Bloom
Lithium
When the Fool Becomes the King
It's the Sun (reprise)
Happy Birthday to Rick

Well, I went to this basically on the strength of the reputation of the live shows. And... they did not disappoint at all. After putting up a red paper wall and projecting John Lennon's Gimme Some Truth (possibly performed by the Spree, I'm guessing so, but can't be positive), Tim DeLaughter spent a good minute or so teasing the audience by slowly cutting it down. And then the full 23- (-ish, there was a roadie who participated somewhat, but I just want to call him a roadie, even if he filled the entirely necessary confetti guns) member band went into a set that was heavy on the new material.

The black military uniforms seem like they don't really match the religious revival feeling of the show, but the music certainly did. Before The Fragile Army, I liked the band as a theory, but this album is actually really good. Probably because the songs themselves feel more focused and less long-ass. I was able to sing along to quite a bit of it, and that was very much encouraged by Tim, and it was actually one of the more energized crowds I've seen in DC.

That said, after playing for around an hour (not playing either Soldier Girl or Reach for the Sun, which were the only two songs I would have known before last month), they came out in their white robes with a color border at the feet, and then played four songs. Four songs that lasted around half an hour. Well, ok, Tim also got the audience to sing Happy Birthday to Rick at the end. But the encore was one of the most fun things at a show I can recall. Just for the cover of Lithium, which had the entire audience singing along and bouncing, treating an extremely depressing song as unironically as possible. I know I say this a lot, after most shows, even, but that is one experience I wouldn't mind having over and over again. It was that much fun and that cool. They finished the encore (except for the aforementioned Happy Birthday) with When the Fool Becomes a King, which is really the only place to put the 10 plus minute song, although they technically started with Everything Starts at the Seam, pushing it to more like fifteen minutes or so, and the reprise of It's the Sun just sort of blended in. I do sort of wish they had ended with Lithium, because that was just such a highlight, but I guess I can understand not wanting to end with a cover.

This is one band that I'd see even if I didn't like the last album. But that I did like the last one as much as I did certainly helped. Also helping: the choir clearly enjoying their long hair. It was sort of hard not to stare at them. Attractive women do make for better shows...