When Passion Pit left the stage, the venue was left littered with glitter, streamers and glow sticks. Much of the audience left with hoarse voices and sweaty and bruised bodies.
Passion Pit performed with opening acts Hollerado and Youngblood Hawke at the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion for a sold-out crowd Saturday night.
The show was the most aggressive concert I’ve ever been to. Following the two opening bands, the crowd grew restless with anticipation for the headliner to take the stage, chanting “Passion Pit!”
When the band took the stage around 10 p.m., the mass of people in the pit inside the LC surged forward, knocking several people over. I quickly lost count of the number of times my toes were stomped on and the number of elbows I took to the side.
The minute lead singer Michael Angelakos opened his mouth to sing the first words to “Take A Walk,” this didn’t matter quite so much. I’d heard the band was good live, but that didn’t compare to experiencing it.
With a colorful light show and the group’s booming instrumentals, Passion Pit threw a fantasy-infused party. Angelakos managed to sound even better than he does on the band’s records.
The band touched on each of its albums, balancing between its 2008 EP “Chunk of Change,” 2009 album “Manners” and 2012 album “Gossamer.” Highlights included songs “It’s Not My Fault I’m Happy,” “Love is Greed,” “Carried Away” and “Let Your Love Grow Tall.”
The audience danced and shouted along to every song, but nothing compared to the surprise release of streamers and glitter from the ceiling during some of the songs, including “Sleepyhead.”
Following “Sleepyhead,” the band left the stage then returned to perform “Moth’s Wings” and “Little Secrets,” tracks from “Manners,” as an encore.
I have never seen a crowd react to an encore the way that audience reacted to “Little Secrets.” The majority of people around me in the pit were excited for “Moth’s Wings,” but “Little Secrets” seemed to make everyone completely lose control. I was pushed by the crowd far from where I was at the start of the song and could barely even move to dance to the music, let alone breathe.
Passion Pit was definitely one of the best bands I’ve seen live, but the crowd made me wary to go back to the LC and unsure if I’d want see the band again. The music inspires the kind of energy better managed in an outdoor setting, and the tightly packed LC didn’t leave enough room to comfortably enjoy the music. I found it truly unfortunate that an aggressive, careless crowd partially ruined my experience, but it’s hard to have a good time when a crowd-surfing fan kicks you in the face.
