Photo Review: Animal Collective at the 930 Club

Photos by John

Disclaimer: After this post, I vow to not talk about Animal Collective for awhile.

Animal Collective played a sold out show at the 930 Club for the second stop on their current US tour last night. The crowd was in similar high spirits, as the club was bursting at the seams with those that knew what to expect, and some that had no idea what they were in for.

Grouper's Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill was a fantastic ambient folk album released last year. While her sound is ideal to comfortably warm up a crowd, I'm not sure it was best suited for such a large venue. Many conversations in the crowd continued, but she proceeded with her pleasant looping bedroom tunes that did manage to garner a decent chunk of attention. Props to the Baltimore crowd the night before that kept nice and quiet for Daniel Higgs.

Animal Collective again began their set with "Chocolate Girls", reworked from Panda Bear and Avey Tare's 2000 debut Spirit They've Gone, Spirit They've Vanished. Otherwise the set was similar but mixed around quite a abit. Before the crowd favorite "My Girls", Avey and the Geologist helped out with Panda Bear's "Comfy in Nautica", the first track off of his already epic solo album Person Pitch. Other highlights included "Banshee Beat" and a promising new song titled "Bleed". This show was yet again aurally stimulating, but it was tough for it to live up to the Ottobar's vibes the night before.

NPR podcasted the entire set, and has it available as a free stream right here.