Passion Pit at Riverside Theater
Dale Reince
As Passion Pit flaccidly worked through the pulsing hooks of set-opener “I've Got Your Number” from the stage of a sold-out Riverside Theater Saturday night, not even the grandiose light show that flicked across the stage could compensate for the shortcomings of vocalist-songwriter Michael Angelakos’ falsetto honk in a live setting. “You’re the best damn friend that I’ll ever have/You’ll always smile upon me when the season’s bad,” Angelakos crooned a bit off-key over a wash of swelling synths. However, the iffy vocal delivery was only one item on the laundry list of indicators that Passion Pit hasn’t quite mastered its live show.
While much of the band’s 2009 album Manners thrives on towering synth arrangements and witty drum samples, many of these sonic assets were all but lost in translation at the Riverside. With approximately seven synthesizers and keyboards floating around on stage, bassist Jeff Apruzzese and guitarist-keyboardist Ian Hultquist seemed to be in a constant sonic battle with synth-sample wizard Ayad Al Adhamy. The result was a messy wash of tones that made one song bleed into the next.
Similarly, the backing track that billowed out of drummer Nate Donmoyer’s laptop seemed to clash with the mess of synthesizers. And Donmoyer himself seemed to bury many of the infectiously danceable drum loops of “The Reeling” and proper set-closer “Little Secrets” with dumbed-down rhythms and lackluster enthusiasm.
When Passion Pit reemerged for an encore set with the na-na-nas of “To Kingdom Come,” Angelakos—who shied away from any kind of stage banter other than “Hello Milwaukee!” or “You guys are awesome!”—actually began mumbling a story when a girl in the balcony managed to chuck her bra onto the stage. Angelakos looked a bit disgusted before cutting his story short and leading his band through a rendition of The Cranberries’ “Dreams.” Then—much to the satisfaction of the girl seated behind me, who kept screaming, “Just play that one fucking song already!”—the quintet finally played its breakout hit “Sleepyhead,” as Angelakos just pointed his mic outward and let the audience finish the song for him.
