Now You See It: Phantogram Lights Up Minneapolis for Sold-Out Concert
With a dazzling array of lighting and an emphatic yet personal stage presence, Phantogram dedicated a third of their setlist to their latest release while playing all their hits to a packed Fillmore audience.
Memory of a Day taps into a feeling almost everyone can identify with: a song triggering a certain emotion. Furthermore, a memory that lives not only in the mind but also in the body. And brings you to the memory of that day.
And lead singer Sarah Barthel’s first words to the crowd echoed the neck-grabbing lyrics of many of their songs: Burning on the inside/It's cool, I'll kill you with a smile from “Jealousy”, the lead track from the new album.
Barthel held chorus notes over the song’s haunting guitars and lyrics…“psychotic drowning chasing time”. Upon the song’s ending and cheers from the capacity crowd, alarm-like synthesizers of “Don’t Move” rang like a calling to a memorable track released fourteen years ago.
Connecting the audience closer to the band, Josh Carter led a clap-along during the synth-only portion near the end of the song. To which the crowd enthusiastically clapped along. Donning a fur jacket and flashy outfit, Barthel danced along. But they ramped it up even further on the next song.
With its distinguishable instrumental opening–a staple of many Phantogram songs–“Fall in Love” began as Barhel stared into the crowd and dropped her fur coat to the floor. And stage lights pulsed strongly with every beat that pumps through the song’s chorus. It was an instant highlight early on in the show.
Phantogram kept the pace quickened with “Feedback Invisible” from their latest release. Not only did the light show expand with the use of side beams, the extended band’s drummer and additional synthesizer player stood out as strong backbones to the live performance, giving each song additional power.
Even as the pace slowed a bit with “Pedastal” (the only track played from Ceremony), a dynamic light show remained. The pace further mellowed through an extended opening of “Mouthful of Diamonds” after Barthel moved to keyboards. And a highlight of the light show became present here.
Lights, whether pulsing, blinking, strobing or such, played harmoniously with the song. For example, they were mostly white during “Mouthful of Diamonds”. Quicking the pace, they moved into “Run Run Blood” with majority red lights. Slowing again later, soft, swaying blues were present for “You Are The Ocean”. At times they also reflected the jarring nature of a song, like the star-like fractals during “All a Mystery”.
As a result, sometimes you could not see the lead duo’s faces. They relied on backlit silhouettes while stationary at keyboards. But also, Barthel and Carter were well illuminated during their dual-guitar ripping of “Attaway”. Or inching as close as possible to the stage’s edge to sing more directly to the front rows.
Speaking of connecting with the audience, Barthel mentioned how her birthday is in a few weeks. And how it feels like everyone is celebrating early. According to the band, Minneapolis is “a very big part of [their] hearts”. And when they first started touring, how they appreciated the city’s “love of music and the arts”.
Carter took it further by thanking the audience for “spending the night” and declaring Phantogram has “super-dedicated fans”. They even thanked The Current for being “so kind and so great to [them]”. And later, extending a profanity-filled (in a good way) series of thanks before breaking into “You Don’t Get Me High Anymore”.
Closing the night was what seems to be their staple finale song: “When I’m Small”. According to Carter, this is the second song they ever wrote. At its close, the audience did not seem to dwindle one bit as the house lights rose. And Barthel danced on stage to the venue playing Jay Rock’s “Win” while dishing out setlists and waving to fans.
Opening the night was Meija, led by Los Angeles-based Jamie Sierota and featuring Minnesota-native Daniel Karasev on drums. The drums started out resembling a bit of Royal Blood as they opened with “Kid” before the more melodic beat and talk-along lyrics of “Mind Over Matter”.
With a possum gracing a sign of the band’s name on stage, they discussed the metaphor of playing possum before leading into the eponymous track. A highlight of the song is guest vocals by Eels frontman Mark Oliver Everett, which played pre-recorded during the Meija performance.
Noteworthy was LA-based Sierota thanking the crowd for the evening and mentioning that a portion of merchandise sales benefit the California Wildlife Center, in light of devastation from the wildfires.
While moving away from video productions that typically accompany their shows, Phantogram ran through colors in a dazzling setlist that fulfilled the evening of dedicated fans. See it here.
