Portugal. The Man, With Crystal Fighters – Revolution Live, Fort Lauderdale – October 9

Portugal_brain

 

By Michael E. Miller Thu., Oct. 10 2013 at 9:00 AM

Portugal. The Man, with Crystal Fighters
Revolution Live, Fort Lauderdale
October 9, 2013

Better than: Taking acid and watching Yellow Submarine.

If your idea of a wicked Wednesday night is tripping balls to some psychedelic indie rock, then chances are good that you were among the sweaty, sore-throated masses at Revolution Live last night. Concertgoers were treated to back-to-back sessions of soaring guitars and trippy visuals thanks to Portugal. The Man and Crystal Fighters.

It was pop at its most unapologetic. Both bands skipped from one crowd-pleaser to the next with only the briefest detours into darker material. And both delivered strong sets that left fans satiated.

Crystal Fighters started the evening on a psychedelic note. Gilbert Vierich (electronics, guitars), Graham Dickson (guitar), and Andrea Marongiu (drums) launched into the synthy “Solar System” with no sign of lead singers Sebastian Pringle and Eleanor Fletcher.

Pringle and Fletcher sprung onto the stage in style a minute later. Both singers wore bizarre, sparkly outfits, but it was Pringle whose getup was the most absurd. He wore huge sunglasses, a rainbow sequined jacket and top, a black skirt, and enough bling to make Mr. T blush. His long hair was pulled into a knot, wrapped in a headband, and draped with a bedazzled scarf.

Thankfully, the Spanish band had the songs to back up its style. Pringle and Fletcher led the audience from one folktronic hit to another; “LA Calling” and “At Home” were crowd favorites. As Pringle pranced on stage and Basque flags waived in the audience, Vierich and Dickson took turns pounding on a giant wooden percussion instrument called a txalaparta.

It was a hard act to follow, but Portugal. The Man didn’t disappoint. Lead singer and guitarist John Baldwin Gourle took the stage in a suit jacket, buttoned-up dress shirt, and slim gold chain. The combination made him look like a cross between a college T.A. and a preacher’s son.Crystal Fighters provided the perfect opening mix of dreamy alt-rock and up-tempo pop. The band borrowed two members from Portugal for its finale: a barnstormer that ended with bare-chested guitarist Dickson climbing onto a table. The result was a screaming Spanish fangasm of spectacular proportions.

His music was anything but uptight. Gourle sang baby-making rock ballads with devilish lyrics like these from “Modern Jesus”:
Don’t pray for us/We don’t need no modern Jesus/To roll with us/The only rule we need is never/Giving up/The only faith we have is faith in us.

The progression from one song to the next was nearly flawless as Portugal opened with the ode to ecstasy “Purple Yellow Red and Blue,” only to then come back to it at the end of the set. The only problem was technical trouble Gourle seemed to having with his pedal board early on. “Fucking technology,” he griped.

The Alaskan band with a European name was aided by a giant four-peaked projection screen. For most of the set, the screen was splashed in psychedelic patterns. But during some songs, the screen transformed into a canvas for strange anatomical animations: brains with mouths, blinking eyeballs, demon hands with pink claws, and what looked like a pair of green, throbbing testicles.

Somehow it all worked. Portugal. The Man progressed through its excellent new Danger Mouse-produced album, Evil Friends, while tossing in the occasional oldies like “So American” and “Got It All.”

Portugal played for a solid two hours, but, in all honesty, the set could have been shorter. The band lost the crowd a little during a mazy, 20-minute encore capped by a kitschy cover of “Hey Jude.” But the initial set had been so seamless and soaring that not even a stumble at the finish could mar an otherwise kickass Wednesday night.

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/countygrind/2013/10/portugal_the_man_with_crystal_fighters_review.php

 

Review: Portugal. The Man at Revolution 10/9

fIJkwlZ-X-CpTz0mQ7ZoF1utqRGkkVipqbjdgTKS67gcmkbO1vKklELonPZNlE98cBt0KoAfqWMQV2hR_OktIU

OCTOBER 11TH, 2013 – 

If ever there was a night in all of 2013 to see some good live music, it would be October 9th. Three fantastic bands decided to voyage down to the ol’ South Florida, including Portugal. The Man, whose eighth album Evil Friends has permeated the airwaves and blogosphere with it’s increasingly radio-friendly sound. This angle of creating accessible yet quality pop music was evident at the show, as the crowd flooded Revolution Live!’s every corner. Composed mostly of eager teens and twenty-something year olds, I feared the show would just turn into a spectacle to be recorded on the likes of Instagram, Facebook, etc etc. Thankfully though, the audience shook off my expectations and found themselves really living the show, for the most part.

First up were Crystal Fighters, and I’m not going to lie, when they arrived I was so ready to hate them. The guitarist ran up, already topless, basking in the cries of sexually frustrated front rowers. Holding them firmly in place, I really had to try hard not roll my eyes. Then the two lead singers, Sebastian Pringle and Eleanor Fletcher pranced in with glittered and bedazzled cloaks over their faces. Did I mention I really wanted to hate them? But the truth is, putting away any pretentious judgements I may have had, they did put on a really fun show. A good portion of the crowd seemed to be pretty hardcore fans of both Portugal. The Man and their openers, so the venue really came alive to their tunes. And why not? Though they’re not the next voices of our generation, or are not making any real musical landmarks, they had a vibrant onstage presence and played danceable tracks well suited to the audience’s demographic-on the outskirts of indie, with toes dipping more into the mainstream. With their easy to remember choruses and melodies pleasant to the ear, it wasn’t hard to jam out with the Brit rockers. Set standouts included “At Home” and their club dance-y “I Love London”, which found Portugal. The Man’s Zach Carothers on percussion.

When the headliners finally took to stage at around 10:30pm, the audience went downright crazy. Prior to this show, I could never really imagine how music fans lose their heads for a band like Portugal. The Man. It’s not that they’re a bad band or anything- in fact I don’t have anything against them, and upon interviewing Carothers, found him to be a swell dude. But they’re not a band that scream “die hard following” like Radiohead, or more pointedly older bands with cult like devotion, such as Fugazi or Elliott Smith. I couldn’t ever wrap my head around the fact that they could be someone’s favorite band, even though I know a few people who think of them that way. I now know why.

The thing with Portugal. The Man, is that they are undoubtedly consistent, never deviating from their goal of making music that appeals to a progressively broader and broader audience. They are aware of this. They aren’t blindly “slipping” into the mainstream, they are consciously making it a goal- and if their Fort Lauderdale show proved anything, it is that it’s working. Throughout their lengthy set, kicking off with “Purple Yellow Red and Blue” fans danced and shouted along to nearly all of their lyrics. The band threw in some covers, spawning from mid-set jam sessions, including “Another Brick in the Wall” by Pink Floyd and “Hey Jude” by The Beatles. The audience knew these songs, and could easily sing along. The band is smart. A lesser known cover, their rendition of “I’d Rather Go Blind” by Etta James, which I actually praised in our interview having heard it on their soundcloud, proved that the band is quite malleable in their approach to music. All in all, Portugal. The Man is doing exactly what they set out to, one show at a time.

http://www.musicobsessed.com/2013/10/review-portugal-the-man-at-revolution-109-fort-lauderdale.html

Crystal Fighters and Portugal The Man Take Over Revolution Live

slide_320731_2999621_free

PHOTOS AND WORDS BY MARISA MATLUCK

Posted: 10/11/2013 12:00 pm EDT  |  Updated: 10/11/2013 12:00 pm EDT

Crystal Fighters opened up for Portugal. The Man at Revolution Live Wednesday night, bringing the crowd to their feet with their upbeat songs! They played fan favorites “Swallow,” “Champion Sound,” “You & I,” “Follow,” and “Plage” to name a few. Towards the end of their set, Portugal bassist Zachary Carothers came on stage to jam with them on the bongos. Portugal’s set lasted about two hours, and had everyone mesmerized by their music and the cool graphics projecting behind them. They played their own music as well as a few covers by Pink Floyd. The crowd cheered for an encore for about five minutes before the band came back onstage along with Crystal Fighters’ Graham Dickson for another three songs. After the venue cleared, all that was left were a few groupies waiting along the stage for guitar picks. The light show was amazing! — Marisa Matluck

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/11/crystal-fighters-photos_n_4085395.html