Animal Collective Prospect Park 7/12/2011

I've been meaning to start writing on here about more of my interests, especially art and music, for a while now, and I thought the Animal Collective concert I went to with Kat on Tuesday would be a perfect place to start. I know I've done music, art, etc. related posts in the past, and mention things here and there throughout my posts, but I really want to devote more writing to it all! So here's to my first sort of real attempt on here at music journalism! Sort of!

I don't know how apparent it is on my blog, but if you know me, it's no secret that Animal Collective is one of my most favorite bands. I've been following them for years now, but somehow only managed to finally get to one of their shows now. It's something Kat and I have been talking about forever, so you could imagine how thrilled we were when we found out they would be playing Celebrate Brooklyn in Prospect Park on July 12th. The stage setup was the first thing we noticed as we arrived at the venue and began (politely) squeezing our way to the front. Indicative of the guy's expressed interest in horror movies, there was a giant skull set up in the back of the stage in which dreamy, psychedelic videos were projected onto the openings of the eyes and mouth and then streamers of bats whose eyes lit up. Not to mention the light up crystals that I feared would obstruct my view of Panda Bear once he got on the drums (not to worry--I managed to position myself properly!). Speaking of, having Panda Bear back on the drums was a pretty big treat. The guy's an incredible and energetic drummer, and his presence fully behind a drum set is one that has been missing in the past, especially with their latest album, Merriweather Post Pavilion.

As we waited for the show to begin (which seemed to be taking an especially long time--Katherine and I think they were just waiting for it to get dark out for the sake of the stage set up) people began throwing around balloons and shuffling impatiently as we stood (many sat) in the over 90 degree weather. Finally, once the sun had begun to set and the glowing eyes of the bats became more prominent, Animal Collective (happily including their fourth member, Deakin, once again!) stepped on stage and everyone seemed to forget about the discomfort they were experiencing only moments before. As expected, based on their live shows in the past, they played a set list of mostly unreleased material. To many people this would come as a disappointment, but to a lot of the fans (myself and Katherine included), it was exciting and just as enjoyable to hear some of the songs that would eventually come to be a part of a new album. It's especially OK with us when the songs are incredible. That is not to say we weren't also completely elated when the band played some select songs from their past albums. My favorite might've been when they transitioned from a new song to "Did You See the Words," off of their album Feels, most likely because that was the album that introduced me to them, so I got pretty nostalgic. I have to think a lot of the fans in the audience agreed, perhaps not for exactly the same reason, because nearly everyone around me was singing along, word for word. Save for "We Tigers," the rest of the songs were off of Merriweather. Although I definitely would have loved hearing a ton of songs off of their other past albums (others around me agreed, as I overheard one girl mention that she'd "cry" if they played "For Reverend Green" from Strawberry Jam), Merriweather felt appropriate for the setting. This was most apparent when they started playing "Summertime Clothes" and the entire crowd exploded. Exhausted and sweaty, dancing our feet off, it felt like we were living the song. As with their tendency to play new material, they still changed up the songs a bit, which is part of what I think makes them and their live shows so exciting, interesting, and unconventional. When they played "We Tigers" from their album Sung Tongs, I could barely keep up: I think that's probably the fastest I have ever and will ever hear that song!

After what felt like an almost two hour set consisting of Deakin's completely absorbed and un-self aware dancing, Geologist's head bopping, and Panda Bear and Avey Tare's passionate singing, the crowd's emphatic cheering encouraged an additional three song encore. The show closed with two new songs and "Taste" and an equally as energetic response from the crowd as in the beginning. Once Avey Tare thanked everyone, a slew of us--finally regaining a sense of consciousness--scurried over to the nearest convenience store, infusing it with tired, sweaty fans grappling pints of ice cream and any beverage we could get our hands on. As we stood in line finishing our drinks before reaching the register (grapefruit was my choice beverage) and wiping off our foreheads, smiling, no one seemed to mind their less than comfortable state. And I don't think the convenience store owners minded much, either.