I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: March 12, 2018] Active Bird Community

I have always loved the name of the headlining band–We Were Promised Jetpacks.  I didn’t know too much about their music but what I’d heard I’d enjoyed.

I thought it might be fun to see them in a small setting, so I grabbed a ticket (before they sold out).

The opening band was Active Bird Community who I’d not heard of.  Imagine my surprise to see they formed in 2005 (!–apparently when they were ten years old or something) and put their first record out in 2012.

The band had great stage presence (touring for years, obviously).  And they wrote incredibly catchy rocking songs.  They seemed to be having a lot of fun and I enjoyed their set a lot.  I was in front of lead guitarist Andrew Wolfson who was really fun to watch, playing with his gear and making really interesting sounds.

Both Tom D’Agustino (screaming on the right) and Wolfson (with the red guitar) sing and play guitar.  It seemed like D’Agustino sang the more rocking songs, while Wolfson took the somewhat more mellow (relatively) ones.

They played about a dozen songs and they were all terrific.  The choruses were pretty universally catchy with a great 90s indie rock vibe.

There was some really good interplay between lead guitar and rhythm melody as well.

They were also really personable.  At some point they asked the crowd to step closer (everyone was a few steps back) and as we all stepped forward there was some chatter and they said, “I didn’t say to talk, just step forward.”

Zach Slater on bass and Quinn McGovern on drums held down the rhythm (McGovern played some interesting complex beats which really helped some of the songs).

But it was Wolfson who brought a ton of energy to the stage–doing some interesting moves–at one point holding his guitar up by the whammy bar as the final notes echoed out.  And playing some fairly interesting chords like this one.

They have a bunch of music available on bandcamp, but their live show is a must see.

Setlist

• Spend the Night
• QB Sneak [*SA]
• Rest Stop [*SA]
• Dead Legs [*SA]
• Metrics
• Baby It’s You
• Melancholy Paper Drum
• [—–] With Me
• unknown
• Home [*SA]
• Silver Screen
• After Party [*ABC]
• Pick Me Apart [*IBGS]
• I’ve Been Going Swimming [*IBGS]

[*ABC]= Active Bird Community (2015) [*IBGS]= I’ve Been Going Swimming (2015) [*SA]= Stick Around 2017