Fleet Foxes floor fans in Easter show
Lacey Bitter
Issue date: 4/16/09 Section: Living
Not many secular bands have the guts to play a concert on Easter Sunday since many fans would rather be spending the holiday at home with their families or celebrating the holy day by going to church. But then again, most secular bands don't evoke a spiritual experience with the music they create.
Fleet Foxes, however, played a packed show Sunday night, filling the Crystal Ballroom with their heavenly harmonies, and the audience was entranced by the performance.
The band claimed that it has played in Portland "twice as much" as its native Seattle, and considering this is the fourth performance in Oregon in the last year, that could very well be true. This concert was not simply a repeat of past shows, though, as the unique Easter experience proved.
The highlight of the night was the debut of three new songs. This Portland show marked the start of a brief west coast tour, Fleet Foxes' first major tour in a few months, so this was the very first time that they played the new songs in front of a real audience.
The band seemed apprehensive of this first performance. Before launching into the first new song, main songwriter and frontman Robin Pecknold said, "It's not quite done and I don't know the structure of it yet. Or the lyrics."
After such a humble introduction, Fleet Foxes unleashed a beautiful but simple song with Pecknold picking a 12-string guitar, never once forgetting the lyrics and with a seemingly perfect structure.
The two other new songs, scattered with well-known older songs throughout the evening, displayed a variety that incorporated old themes from the first album while branching out into new directions. Both songs were more upbeat than many of the past songs, one with a resounding synthesizer behind the usual acoustic guitar melodies, the other a fast-paced song characterized by Pecknold's frequent use of falsetto vocals.
"Any constructive feedback would be good," Pecknold said to an awestruck audience, who seemed incapable of dishing any feedback besides enthusiastic applause. "I've never felt so vulnerable in my life until this moment," he continued on, not noticing the crowd's positive ovation.
Fleet Foxes, however, played a packed show Sunday night, filling the Crystal Ballroom with their heavenly harmonies, and the audience was entranced by the performance.
The band claimed that it has played in Portland "twice as much" as its native Seattle, and considering this is the fourth performance in Oregon in the last year, that could very well be true. This concert was not simply a repeat of past shows, though, as the unique Easter experience proved.
The highlight of the night was the debut of three new songs. This Portland show marked the start of a brief west coast tour, Fleet Foxes' first major tour in a few months, so this was the very first time that they played the new songs in front of a real audience.
The band seemed apprehensive of this first performance. Before launching into the first new song, main songwriter and frontman Robin Pecknold said, "It's not quite done and I don't know the structure of it yet. Or the lyrics."
After such a humble introduction, Fleet Foxes unleashed a beautiful but simple song with Pecknold picking a 12-string guitar, never once forgetting the lyrics and with a seemingly perfect structure.
The two other new songs, scattered with well-known older songs throughout the evening, displayed a variety that incorporated old themes from the first album while branching out into new directions. Both songs were more upbeat than many of the past songs, one with a resounding synthesizer behind the usual acoustic guitar melodies, the other a fast-paced song characterized by Pecknold's frequent use of falsetto vocals.
"Any constructive feedback would be good," Pecknold said to an awestruck audience, who seemed incapable of dishing any feedback besides enthusiastic applause. "I've never felt so vulnerable in my life until this moment," he continued on, not noticing the crowd's positive ovation.