[ATTENDED: September 29, 2026] The Shins
I have been a fan of The Shins since their debut album came out and I have never seen them live. I put them very high on my list of bands that I wanted to see. But I assumed I just never would. (They played Franklin Music Hall in 2022 and The Fillmore in 2017). And yet, here they were opening for Weezer.
I don’t know what James Mercer (the only real Shin at this point) has been up to for this last decade (their last album came out in 2017), but whatever it is, he’s been keeping his voice in amazing condition.
They opened with Simple Song and I immediately remembered how much I love The Shins. And as soon as he hit the first high notes of the song–and hit them confidently and easily, I knew this set was going to be fantastic. They made some use of the video screens. The camera zoomed in on the musicians from time to time and behind them, for each song there was a different band name logo, which was really fun.
Up next was Australia (I realized I have no idea what the names of these songs are) but as soon as the “la la las” came along, the whole song flooded back. And Mercer seemed like he was having a really good time up there. He commented about how he had never been on an arena tour before and how much fun he was having.
I was surprised that I didn’t recognize the next song which I see comes from Chutes Too Narrow–did I not listen to that album very much? It was after this song that their drummer said that their lead guitar player (with great vocal harmonies too) made a fac at him and made him screw up so he (the drummer) owed the guitar player $50 which he immediately handed over. I also vaguely recognized the following song (from Heartworms, an album I don’t think I ever really got into). But the crazy thing about these two songs is that they sounded great and were just perfect little pop nuggets.
And then they jumped over to a song I did know very well–Saint Simon, with more delightful la da da dums (I do know Chutes Too Narrow, just not that one song I guess).
Mercer announced the next song as being the title track from Heartworms–I guess I do need to listen to this album some more. But when he announced the following song, Kissing the Lipless the crowd, which had been 100% supportive got a little more excited. Now, I don’t know any of the song titles, and these titles are bizarre, so who knew which song that was. Well, wonderfully, it was a super catchy song with soaring high notes and great harmonies. There’s a pretty acoustic part in the middle of the song. Mercer played acoustic guitar through the whole set and it sounded great.
I’ve always been amused that one of their bigger hits is called Caring is Creepy (one of the few songs I know the title of) and I was pretty excited when they played it. It did make me regret again not going to see the tour for this album back in 2022. But at least they were playing it tonight.
I also couldn’t get over how quickly the set flew by. The songs were so good–the familiar and the unfamiliar, that the set was just flying by. And when they started Phantom Limb, it was just another wonderful four minutes of bliss. The bliss continued with the haunting “oooh ooohs” that open New Slang and my favorite three note guitar melody.
They ended the set with the sweet keyboard opening of Sleeping Lessons and when that song built up and exploded midway through, the crowd went (justifiable) crazy. And just as the song was ending, Mercer started sing some of It’s the End of the World as We Know It (the Leonard Bernstein verse). It was super catchy and, I’m sure, a rather pointed cover to tack on to the end of the show.
It was a really great set and has absolutely reignited my love of the band.
- Simple Song ¶
- Australia ω
- Gone for Good ¢
- So Now What ♥
- Saint Simon ¢
- Heartworms ♥
- Kissing the Lipless ¢
- Caring Is Creepy Ø
- Phantom Limb ω
- New Slang Ø
- Sleeping Lessons ω (with snippet of R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)”)
♥ Heartworms (2017)
¶ Port of Morrow (2012)
ω Wincing the Night Away (2007)
¢ Chutes Too Narrow (2003)
Ø Oh, Inverted World (2001)
Leave a comment