I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: September 12, 2024] Silversun Pickups

I had several opportunities to see Silversun Pickups in the last year or so.  (They’ve played in Sayreville, Asbury Park and now Montclair, as well as Glenside, Bensalem and Philly in the last two years).  So I finally decided it was time to go see them.

I think their song Panic Switch is absolutely dynamite.  It’s one of my favorite songs of the early 2000s.  And they have a few other songs that I like as well.  Indeed, I listened to their discography recently and overall really liked them.  I mean, I can’t shake how much they sound like Smashing Pumpkins, but since I haven’t listened to Smashing Pumpkins on purpose in years, that’s fine.   They’re like Pumpkins without all of the Billy Corgan drama.

The band i a four piece with amazing bass sounds from Nikki Monninger–with only one guitar (and keys) Monninger’s bass is fundamental to these songs and they often (like in Panic Switch) have a great riff holding the song down.  The keys are from Joe Lester.  I have no real sense of what he was adding, but I know he was adding a lot–probably more than I realized.

I’ve always liked the look of Chris Guanlao who stands out in pictures with his long dark hair among the light-haired guys.  But holy crap I was not prepared for how loud his drums would be.  The guy is a beast back there–playing all kinds of tempo changes and just accentuating everything.  He was amazing.

And of course up front is Brian Aubert who said he was bummed that he didn’t get to buy a jacket at thrift store that had closed by the time he returned to it.

The band came out to red lights and the song Growing Old is Getting Old (from Swoon).   Midway through, the song shifted and the full stage lights kicked in.  The stage had dozens of lightbulbs hanging down from the ceiling.  They were LCD and changed colors and lit up.  I was pretty cool.

I really like It Doesn’t Matter Why from their previous album and I think I need to listen to that one a bit more.

Then they played Panic Switch–I couldn’t believe they put it so far in front of the show.  It sounded amazing and they jammed it out a little extra long (just for me, I assume).

Scared Together featured Joe using a voice box on the synth to play the fun bass line–live it sounded like he was screaming (rather chilling).  The new song Sticks and Stones has a different sound–a bit softer (acoustic guitar).  But then they jumped back to a heavier earlier song from their debut album.

I don’t know that I’ve listened to their debut very much, but I really liked Little Lover’s So Polite, which is a pretty quintessential SSPU song.

Nikki took lead vocals on the mellow Alone on a Hill.  I don’t know how often she sings lead–she did a few times during the show.  She has a lovely voice.

Brian introduced “Kissing Families” with a lengthy musical introduction about 2005.  He made a joke about how we burned CDs back then and people wondered who the woman singing was (it was me! he laughed).  Then it was audience participation time as we snapped along with Nikki for “Don’t Know Yet.”

Then things got heavy for Mean Spirits with a ripping bass line and they followed it with one more from Swoon with Substitution.   After two songs from the Better Nature album, they ended the set with “Dots and Dashes.”   The show was already pretty long (compared to some recent shows I’ve seen), but they still came back out for an encore.

They ended the show with a 5 song encore.  This included the bonus song from the 2014 Singles Collection–the romping “Cannibal.”  When they started the quiet “Empty Nest,” the woman next to me shrieked so loudly I’m not sure if she heard any of the song.

Brian played a brief unreleased song on guitar and then they ended with a fantastic “Lazy Eye,” which the crowd went nuts for.  They show was two hours of great music,

I’m so glad that I went to see them.

1. Growing Old Is Getting Old §
2. Sticks and Stones ¶
3. Well Thought Out Twinkles ¢
4. It Doesn’t Matter Why ψ
5. Panic Switch §
6. Scared Together ¶
7. Little Lover’s So Polite ¢
8. Alone on a Hill ¶
9. Kissing Families Ø
10. Don’t Know Yet ψ
11. Mean Spirits ♣
12. Substitution §
13. Nightlight  ♦
14. Circadian Rhythm (Last Dance) ♦
15. Dots and Dashes (Enough Already) ♣
    encore
16. Three Seed ¢
17. Cannibal ∞
18. Empty Nest ¶
19. new untitled
20. Lazy Eye ¢