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Setlist
Tour Dates
08/23/14 Cleveland, OH Music Box Supper Club
Read More
08/25/14 Boston, MA Brighton Music Hall 08/26/14 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Bowl 08/27/14 Philadelphia, PA Prince Music Theatre 08/28/14 Washington, DC Black Cat 08/29/14 Carrboro, NC ArtsCenter 08/30/14 Atlanta, GA Loft At Center Stage 08/31/14 Jefferson, LA Southport Hall 11/01/14 Dallas, TX Gilley's Dallas
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“Your Power is Growing!”
That more-than-positive statement was emblazoned on a stretched white sheet some thirty feet long, spray painted on (in reverse from his angle) by leader of The Polyphonic Spree, Tim DeLaughter. With a slice from a pair of scissors, the sheet was split in half to reveal all fourteen members on stage, and with that, it had begun.
Before the headliner, local trio Catbath opened with a 40 min. set of revved up songs, culled mostly from their debut EP, Bathtime. Travis Franklin, Crystal Stockert, and Kristin Kosieracki have a mid-90’s sounding fuzz about them, similar to The Breeders which was well received on playfully delivered tracks like ‘Law of Average’, ‘Casio’ and ’Bop, Ooo’.
The stage at the Cedar Cultural Center is relatively small, while The Polyphonic Spree is known to be considerably large, so the question was whether the band and singers, would be able to fit up there comfortably for the duration of the 90 min. set. Thankfully, as the sheet was cut and the band (which included a violinist, harpist, and four backup singers) was revealed, the stage proved to be an ample platform.
The Dallas-based choral symphonic pop group is out in support of previous studio album Yes, It's True and recently-released remix compilation, Psychphonic (Kirtland Records). Dressed in similar shirts with a 70s sheen to their music, the band is a hipper, modern version of Up With People, with a persistent explosion of sunshine.
An amended version of ‘Tragiverse’ from DeLaughter’s previous band, Tripping Daisy, opened the evening, with new tracks from the latest album like ‘Popular by Design’ and ‘Hold Yourself Up’ fitting in nicely amongst the older (albeit, more popular) songs.
The mood mid-set turned more psychedelic and trippy, with lights dimmed and spinning balls throwing multi-colored patterns on the walls and ceiling. A cover of The Monkees’ ‘Porpoise Song’ crested this vibe, then things turned more to rock with a straight-on cover of the McCartney/Wings classic ‘Live and Let Die’ (minus all the pyro and smoke McCartney now uses when he plays it), with DeLaughter joking that he actually wrote the song… when he was twelve years old, and should get the royalties.
‘Light and Day’, their best known song, was played late and got the largest response, with the humble DeLaughter commenting after the extended applause that “…we should have played that first maybe.”
‘The Best Part’ followed, a B-side available mostly in Japan that is a bouncy playful number, played at the request of their touring bassist. But truly the “best part” of the show was saved for last as DeLaughter then casually stepped into the middle of the audience for a stirring and mellow ‘Battlefield’ with the crowd all around him sitting on the floor, like children at story time, in rapt attention.
DeLaughter then took to the stage again to give thanks to the crowd, venue and staff, before smoke filled and the band crescendo’d a loud ending—the power of positivity had won the night, and our power was indeed growing.
That more-than-positive statement was emblazoned on a stretched white sheet some thirty feet long, spray painted on (in reverse from his angle) by leader of The Polyphonic Spree, Tim DeLaughter. With a slice from a pair of scissors, the sheet was split in half to reveal all fourteen members on stage, and with that, it had begun.
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Catbath
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Polyphonic Spree
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The Dallas-based choral symphonic pop group is out in support of previous studio album Yes, It's True and recently-released remix compilation, Psychphonic (Kirtland Records). Dressed in similar shirts with a 70s sheen to their music, the band is a hipper, modern version of Up With People, with a persistent explosion of sunshine.
An amended version of ‘Tragiverse’ from DeLaughter’s previous band, Tripping Daisy, opened the evening, with new tracks from the latest album like ‘Popular by Design’ and ‘Hold Yourself Up’ fitting in nicely amongst the older (albeit, more popular) songs.
The mood mid-set turned more psychedelic and trippy, with lights dimmed and spinning balls throwing multi-colored patterns on the walls and ceiling. A cover of The Monkees’ ‘Porpoise Song’ crested this vibe, then things turned more to rock with a straight-on cover of the McCartney/Wings classic ‘Live and Let Die’ (minus all the pyro and smoke McCartney now uses when he plays it), with DeLaughter joking that he actually wrote the song… when he was twelve years old, and should get the royalties.
‘Light and Day’, their best known song, was played late and got the largest response, with the humble DeLaughter commenting after the extended applause that “…we should have played that first maybe.”
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Setlist
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DeLaughter then took to the stage again to give thanks to the crowd, venue and staff, before smoke filled and the band crescendo’d a loud ending—the power of positivity had won the night, and our power was indeed growing.
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Polyphonic Spree at Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (18 Aug 2014) |
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