Concert Review: Animal Collective (HoBo)

Bands: Grouper, Animal Collective
Venue: House of Blues in Boston

Comments (Chris DeCarlo):
As soon as I walked in, I was a tad bit disappointed (though, not surprised) by the sea of Animal Collective fans that had arrived before me. Not being the first to arrive nor the person in the front row is uncommon for me at non-seated shows. Being my height, I couldn't see a thing; if I stepped on my tip toes I could see merely some of the stage. So, initially I simply anticipated hearing great music, but not feeling the whole experience. However, when their new classic "Summertime Clothes," (one of my favorites) emerged, I began pogoing away and with the advice of a female concertgoer, I pushed my way through the crowd so I could see the band. From this point on it was chaotic, but fun and exciting. I must say the dancing and moshing and what not was crazier than I expected and greater than anything I have ever encountered.

It was like one big hugging, sweat fest, which at times became obnoxious and unnecessary to the point that I was almost falling over every other second. One other flaw for me was the lack of personal favorites performed. Don't get me wrong AC put on an amazing and entertaining show and played all great songs. Some of my faves [were played] ("Summertime Clothes" and "My Girls" and technically "Who Could Win a Rabbit," but it was a different version of it and therefore did not achieve the same reaction for me anyway. Since, these guys are one of my top 20 favorite artists, I anticipated them playing more of my favorites than other bands I see.

Finally, I want to mention an additional treat to the band was a gigantic, white ball which served as a screen for random, archive footage of various images including that of race cars, a Native American, and countless others. A fellow fan summed it up perfectly whilst we were hopping and bopping in the pit: "Buy the ticket, take the ride." He, of course, was referencing the famous Hunter S. Thompson quote, which perfectly captures the musical, emotional, and perhaps spiritual trip that is Animal Collective live.

Comments (Glen):
I made the terrible mistake of reading a review of the concert in the Boston Globe this morning. The review was really awesome and captured the concert to a very accurate extent. First, I would like to say (to the dismay of probably a few people reading this) that Grouper was the most boring act ever. It just felt like one forty-five minute song. Animal Collective, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. Offering a small array of tracks, including rarely performed "#1" and "Bleed," Animal Collective decided to go for more electro-pop/dance than freak folk/experimental. That of course meant that the majority of the set featured tracks from Merriweather Post Pavillion. The mosh-pitting and crazy dancing was extremely unexpected, but luckily for me I got pushed from being 12 rows back originally to six feet away from the trio at the very end. I would say the inexperience from the all ages crowd was the principal cause of the raucous. Some songs that definitely contributed to the madness were "Brother Sport" and "Fireworks." Overall, the band performed extremely well. I look forward to seeing them again in the future.