The Antlers and Editors Live @ The Phoenix

February 18th, 2010

Editors

Two years ago, Editors came to town and knocked our socks off. Surprised and impressed with the crazy amount of energy, and heart that they perform with we hoped that they would come back again soon. Fast-forward a couple years later, mix in one new album and BAM you’ve been transported to Tuesday night.

Of course, I’m talking about Editors concert at The Phoenix. You know the one we gave away tickets to? Yeah. We give away good stuff.

Having been so blown away last time by their performance, I was trying not to over hype the show. I didn’t want to build up all these great expectations in my head, and be let down. It had been a whole two years! Maybe things would have changed? Their third album, In This Light And On This Evening, had come out back in October 2009. What was I to expect?

The answer? Nothing but the best. The entire night was pretty much amazing.

First up opening for Editors, were The Antlers. The Brooklyn trio drew quite a crowd of their own thanks to the growing success of their 2009 album Hospice. If you’ve yet to hear it, you should know that it’s worth the listen. It’s a concept album, or as Alica so finely put it, “It’s a ten-song story that’ll be playing over and over again in your noggin.” Too true Alica. Too true.

We were lucky that The Antlers even played that night, as they had been held up for a while by some hard working/very thorough/kinda slow immigration officers. Eek! They barely had time to unpack before they hit the stage! All that drama seemed to melt away as soon as their set started. From Kettering to Wake, each song was preformed with a beautiful amount of emotion and ease. I was all too excited when they began to play my favorite track from Hospice – Bear. Oh and I just so happen to have their new music video for said song with me. Check it!

Needless to say, as far and opening bands go – The Antlers were pretty amazing. Don’t miss them opening for The National at Massey Hall (June 8th and 9th)!

Now onto Editor’s set. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!

Oh yeah. I went there.

When Editors perform live, they really do give it more then 100%. All four band members give it everything they got. The highlight is front man/vocalist/guitar man/piano man Tom Smith. If I were to gage the amount of energy, heart, soul, and commitment that he puts into a show I’d have to say it’s somewhere around the 200% mark.

From start to finish, Tom puts his whole body into each song, dancing, shaking, and wobbling about in the coolest way possible. By the end of the first few songs he’s dripping in sweat with no signs of stopping. And his voice. His voice! It’s this deep, bellowing, smoothness that just needs to be heard live to be understood. It’s thick like caramel and haunting like an echo.

While they focused on songs from In This Light and on This Evening, many songs from their older albums An End Has A Start and The Back Room were also well covered. I can even show you the set list! See? I’m sneaky.

Set List