Phoenix ::: Bluebird Theater ::: 06.25.09

I have a hard to believing that Phoenix played the Bluebird Theater. They know and I know they could have sold out the Gothic or perhaps the Ogden. The sold-out sweatbox was full of grieving zombies with blank stares in search of something to take their minds off of one of the most devastating losses to music since the passing of Kurt Cobain. Enter Phoenix stage left. The Parisians did everything in their power to execute one of the best performances this year since I saw Cut Copy at the same venue. Phoenix is riding on an extreme high since their release of Wolfgang Amadeus, a triple performance on SNL, a triumphant set at Bonnaroo, and multiple sold out shows throughout the US. In a night where the crowd was in need of massive doses of pop music, Phoenix came to the rescue offering a fantastic rendition of my favorite song off of Wolfgang Amadeus in Love Like a Sunset. In a night where there was random fan holding the vinyl cover of Thriller and hopes of hearing a Michael Jackson cover, our hopes never came to fruition. The closest we got was Thomas Mars giving his props to MJ stating that without him, Too Young, wouldn’t have been possible.The instrumental song is unlike anything they have ever done and the departure was welcomed by the frantic drumming and severe shredding. They also had an unconventional encore where they finished up with 1901, but came back to re-finish the song by starting off at the climax of the song, only to come up the tempo for a couple of minutes while lead singer Thomas Mars catapulted himself into the welcoming crowd to finish off the set. However, the night wasn’t done quite yet. The house music/DJ had enough sense to play some Michael Jackson to pay tribute thus igniting an eight song party inferno. Ralphie from Indie 101.5 FM was able to catch some of the action below.

Phoenix-Lisztomania (Star Guitar Remix) [mp3]
(Via Pasta Primavera)