Neon Indian at Social Hall, SF 9/22
Looking around the crowd at the newly minted Social Hall SF, it was apparent that the diehard group of fans had little idea what they were hearing. Attending a show by a favored artist is an unforgettable experience; the anxiety and foreboding feeling that they may bomb the performance, the hope against all hope that the one favorite song played on repeat 300 times that one summer is on their set list, the lofty and unrealistic expectations of them noticing your pinpoint gaze from the stage.
All of those unstable feelings – coupled with the awkward notion of repeatedly bumping shoulders with complete strangers – are made more bearable by the overarching fact that the mass of people is musically in sync. Artists take huge risks when touring a new album pre-release; when a fan base comes together to experience their latest works before hearing a single song, the performance can either fall flat or amaze. Alan Palomo’s performance, thankfully, accomplished the latter. Despite vague familiarity with the new material, the cluster rocked and swayed to the arrangements that have made Neon Indian into a renowned electronic producer.
Between his own eccentric swinging hips and a charmingly flat-footed signature shuffle (falling somewhere between Motown and Disco), Palomo also managed to keep an often-times lost crowd energized and in the moment. Continue reading
