Animal Collective played to a sold out crowd at Terminal 5 and the performance was terrible. While I enjoy the band on record, their live show leaves much to be desired. The overlaying of the sounds come together as one big mess, making some of their songs almost unrecognizable. I presume the band is better on mood enhancing drugs judging by the reaction of all the hippies at the show, including one kid who had a attached a unicorn horn to his head perhaps in an effort to make his spastic dancing seem even more crazy. To sum it up:
Animal Collective on record = Good
Animal Collective live = Good for hippies
More photos after the jump.
May 14th, 2009 at 9:23 am
I totally disagree. This was my third time seeing Animal Collective. The last show I caught was at Webster hall about a year ago and something was going on with the sound… seemed like an off night for the band. The performance at Terminal 5 was incredible. They were tight and left me completely satisfied with the set list. I am still buzzing from it at work and that’s usually the best sign of a great show. No drugs, but I could completely see how some might be turned off by the flood of hippies and performance enhancers, usually to be expected present.
May 14th, 2009 at 11:03 am
I second that… It was an amazing show! I thought the sound was crisp and clean and we danced our ass off. On 2 beers! I’ve seen these guys a number of times and they don’t play their songs exactly like they’re on the albums. They always tweak or remix their songs giving us a new experience every time they play live and half the time they’re trying out new material.
May 14th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
I third that…this was my second time seeing them, my first time at the Grand BAllroom in january, but i thought this show was amazing. They twisted most of their songs which is always nice and the sound was fat, my ears were still ringing in the morning. The setlist they played was also sweet and it had lots of new stuff, i danced all night and had a great time
May 14th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
my first time seeing animal collective and it really exceeded my expectations. I was so psyched to hear all the transitions between songs and listen to them actually improvise on the synthesizers and vocally. For the person who wrote this you must have a bad ear because I only started listening to this band a few months ago and everything they played was very clear and easy to recognize. If you are not into improvisation and hearing them create something new then I guess blast some cd’s in your room and make more space for people who appreciate the bands ability to develop songs in new ways rather then just spit them back you exactly the way you know from the record.
They should really start making soundboard recordings of these shows..
May 15th, 2009 at 6:55 am
the DC show from a couple of days ago is up on NPR.
also the show from Bowery Ballroom (jan 09) is on their site.
May 15th, 2009 at 7:11 am
Fair enough, to me it just sounded like the sound got way to muddy. I couldn’t hear any of the guitars (in the few songs they were used). I enjoy that they improvise, i meant that the way the keyboards were mixed made the show unlistenable at points.
I have seen the band before and this show just left me unsatisified. Perhaps I was in a bad part of the room, glad you guys enjoyed it though.
May 15th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Also keep in mind Terminal 5 is just the worst sound wise, which they really have no control over once the show starts.