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Review Thu Oct 03 2013
Atlas Genius @ House of Blues 10/01
Atlas Genius was greeted by a sold out crowd as they took the stage at the House of Blues Tuesday night. The band looked visibly shaken but equally surprised and humbled at the large gathering of people there to hear them perform. As they started to play, I looked around for a moment and found myself a bit surprised at how varied their fanbase is. Q101 refugees stood side by side with NPR devotees in a temporary brotherhood as they sang along in tandem as the band played their current single, "If So."
Atlas Genius have always sounded very influenced by Phoenix, especially their albums Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, and It's Never Been Like That. This admiration was clear throughout the night, and was most apparent when they played their song "Back Seat" in a slick and charismatic manner. Keith Jeffery, guitarist and singer, stepped into the crowd for a solo during an extended breakdown as the rest of the band encouraged the audience to clap and dance before leading the song to it's conclusion.
They then jammed for a little bit before moving on to the next song. This is a theme that was continued throughout the night; play a song and then jam for a few minutes before moving on. I get it. The album is only a little over thirty minutes long and they had a hour long set to fill. However, they're talented musicians who knew at least to keep the jamming interesting and somewhat brief, so I was fine with it for the most part. The musical interludes were interesting, in the post-rock stylings of Explosions in the Sky and Mogwai. All of that said, I wouldn't have minded a cover or two.
They played a few more songs from their album When it Was Now before playing their big crowd pleaser, "Trojans." The band seemed to build an increasingly confident swagger throughout the night and it reached a crescendo with their final song, the pulsing and arena rock ready "Electric." As they performed these two tracks, it seemed like practice for the bigger stages they will likely soon be playing.
"Thanks for selling us out," Atlas Genius earnestly yelled at some point during the night. "I think we play this city more than any other." If they continue at this rate they'll be back soon, quite possibly at the larger venues the bands they admire play.
