We Barbarians + Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Ballantine Field, 9/15/2012

There were fireworks during this show. Which was sweet.

We Barbarians

Serenading’s a time-honored Vassar tradition wherein freshmen sing made-up songs to seniors and then get things thrown at them. It’s like consensual hazing. After everyone gets cleaned up, a couple of indie bands perform at the “Serenading Concert” and everyone gets their groove on. All in all, it’s a good day.

But even at bigger shows like this one, Vassar audiences are never punctual. I arrived a few minutes before 8:00, only to find a small group of people hanging around the merch table and a couple of others dispersed around the field. The crowd began fully materializing around 8:10, when We Barbarians took to their instruments to start off the night.

The Brooklyn trio brought a very fierce brand of indie rock to the stage, playing anthemic tune after anthemic tune with gritted teeth. The guitars were crunchy, the vocals were shouted, and the beats were heavily percussive. I was most impressed by bassist Derek Vanheule, as he was laying down some complicated-yet-pretty bass lines while occasionally throwing himself into guitarist David Quon. The set was a whole lot of fun, and these guys were bursting with an infectious energy that the crowd loved, but I ultimately wasn’t impressed by the music itself. Indie rock is infamous for its bottomless echo chamber of bands that sound similar, and I could unfortunately name a handful that these guys instantly reminded me of. It was a good way to kick off the concert, but I’m not going to be actively looking for their music.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra

After the fireworks, Unknown Mortal Orchestra came on. They started the set with an intense, bass-heavy drone that gave way to a bass-heavy jam. Something didn’t feel right, though; the bass was way, way, way too high in the mix and the guitar was practically inaudible. I predicted a couple of posts ago that some bros in the audience would assume UMO to be a dubstep act, and lo and behold, their first few songs dropped the bass. Har har. This problem plagued standout tracks like “Thought Ballune” and “Bicycle,” but it evened out as the set went on.

I thought that the rest of their set, consisting mostly of material from last year’s self-titled debut, was solid. There were periods in which they extended their psych-pop jams out, leading to some intense guitar solos and a persistent energy that felt like it would never die out. About halfway through, they broke into my personal favorite, “Nerve Damage.” It’s the most punk track out of their canon, so it naturally set the highly-responsive crowd into a frenzy. And then of course, there was “Ffunny Ffrends,” which these poor guys must be so exhausted of playing by now. But nevertheless, they got the audience clapping along and played through their biggest single with a whole lot of enthusiasm.

The group did seem genuinely happy to be joining us that evening. Frontman Ruban Nielson only had a few words to say in-between songs, but they spoke volumes. At one point, he said something to the effect of “I like it here. It’s beautiful, and you are all beautiful.” Near the end of the set, he added, “fireworks… Vassar College… UMO… y’know what I mean?” As drunken as these statements seemed, they echoed the celebratory mood of the evening and the good vibes that were churning out of the speakers.

It was a fun night.