On April 25, 2012, New York was treated to a double bill of great dance music as Penguin Prison and Miike Snow played their second of three sold out shows at Terminal 5. I’ve seen Penguin Prison perform quite a few times and to date, this is the largest venue I’ve seen them play. It worked perfectly to see close to 3,000 people shaking their bodies to the infectious dance pop of Penguin Prison’s music. Despite a photographer pit and a huge barricade, lead singer Chris Glover still found a way to jump into the crowd and dance with the audience. One of the highlights for me was their cover of Lana Del Rey’s “Blue Jeans,” of which Penguin Prison recently remixed. The track got no introduction and when the lyrics began, you could hear the audience squeal with delight. Hearing 3,000 people shout out “Don’t Fuck With My Money” was also one of the pinnacles of the night. For those attending tonight’s 3rd and final night, the show begins promptly at 8:00 PM, so don’t miss Penguin Prison’s set!
Andrew Wyatt of Miike Snow
An hour and a half later at 9:30 PM, Miike Snow took the stage. They must have taken my suggestion from their previous tour, which consisted of nearly the same light display for the duration of the show, as each song had a different and even more wild light show than the previous track. Like their last tour, the band emerged from behind a smoke machine wearing masks. They removed the masks after the first song and the audience was loving every second of it. Lead singer Andrew Wyatt moved all over the stage and often sang at a keyboard towards the rear of the stage. In the center of the stage, there was huge pod-like device that had lights, keyboards and a projector contained within it (see photo below). I’ve never seen anything like that before. Highlights of the show were the excellent new songs “Paddling Out,” (of which Penguin Prison recently remixed and is great) as well as “Devil’s Work.” Classics from their debut album such as “Sylvia,” “Animal” and “Sans Soleil” were also played.
Miike Snow - Terminal 5
Thanks to Penguin Prison and Miike Snow for a great night of lights and dancing!
I love it when the local band becomes huge. And that is the case for Brooklyn-based noise pop band Sleigh Bells. The band has been around for just about 3 years and by the end of the weekend, they are poised to be superstars! Sleigh Bells performed a sold out show for the 3000 person capacity Terminal 5 and tonight, they will be performing on Saturday Night Live! Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller were so cool when I chatted with them and I wished them even greater success than they’ve already achieved. And now I am saying it in print! Best of luck Sleigh Bells! I heart thee!
Ladytron! My first time seeing the British synthpop band was on October 8, 2011 at New York’s Terminal 5. VHS or Beta opened the show and got the crowd ready to dance. Ladytron took the stage around 9:30 and in additon to a great performance, there was a great light show. Ladytron has 2 females and 2 males. Helen Marnie sings most lead vocals and Mira Aroyo also sings lead on a few songs. The 2 guys Reuben Wu and Daniel Hunt play keyboards. Together, they make some pretty delicious dance grooves.
Ladytron
The nearly 2 hour set featured Ladytron hits such as “Seventeen,” “Discotraxx,” “Soft Power,” “Destroy Everything You Touch” (which was the final song of the night) and “Runaway.” Tracks from their new album “Gravity the Seducer” including “White Gold,” ”Ace of Hz,” and “White Elephant” were played. The reception to the newer material was just as good as it was for the classic songs and it was a very fun show.
You can see the setlist (though it’s not that great of a photo) after the jump.
If you don’t know the music of Elbow, you are doing your ears a great injustice. Their music is epic! The band is great and lead singer Guy Garvey’s voice has been known to draw tears to many an eye. I saw Elbow live at New York’s Terminal 5 on September 25, 2011 and the show was insanely awesome. The final song of the night was “One Day Like This.” Check out the video here.
On September 28, 2011, Los Angeles’ Foster The People made a triumphant return to New York, playing their second of two sold out shows at Terminal 5. I knew when I saw them earlier this year at the much smaller Bowery Ballroom they were going to be huge, and I was so pleased to see that the rest of the world has caught on. In some ways, I expected their fan base to be emo hipsters, but instead it seemed to consist of tween girls. But then again, when you think about the fact that Foster the People’s music is extremely catchy and the guys in the band are all hotties, it makes perfect sense. Reptar and Cults opened the show (stay tuned for a video from Cults) and they were great. Possibly my only complaint of the night was that Foster the People’s set was barely an hour and they didn’t even play all the songs off of their fantastic debut “Torches.” However, what they lacked in set time, they made up in lighting. Their stage presence has gotten bigger in every way and their laser lights show was extremely cool. Lead singer Mark Foster talked about their participation with the Do Good Bus, an organization that travels around to various cities and helps local communities. Also, we were treated to an as yet unreleased song called “Ruby” that Foster promised would be released some day. Every song was a sing-a-long and highlights of course were the amazing “Helena Beat,” “Miss You,” “Houdini” and of course “Pumped Up Kicks.” Click play to see what “Pumped Up Kicks” looked like from the front row!