No Animal Collective tour this summer - at least not of the full, four-piece band - but the next best thing is Avey Tare and Panda Bear will be on the road performing the seminal LP Sung Tongs in its entirety over the next couple of months. First, though, Panda Bear has to wrap up his current solo tour with Animal Collective's Geologist, and Thursday night in Atlanta was the last night of that tour.
As one would expect, Geologist's set was all instrumental - no vocals - and consisted of some very abstract electronic jams. Here's a pretty representative example.
In addition to being a member of Animal Collective, Geologist (Brian Weitz) holds a masters degree in Environmental Policy and briefly worked on ocean and climate change policy in Washington. He reportedly scuba dives regularly with fellow Animal Collective member Deakin (Josh Dibb), and the music and video were inspired by their dive trips. He brought this vibe with him to Variety Playhouse, and the audience ate it up.
Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) performs what is probably the most accessible of Animal Collective's music. While electronic, it has clear ties to pop music and while listening one can choose to either just enjoy the melodies and sing-song vocals, or dive deeper beneath the surface (another scuba analogy) and appreciate the layered electronics.
We last saw Panda Bear with Animal Collective at the Buckhead Theater almost exactly two years ago. We last saw Panda solo during the 2015 edition of Shaky Knees (this year's edition was last weekend, and we're just now recovering after the three-day festival followed by a week of work). Here's an outstanding video of a 2015 performance by Panda Bear which was quite similar to what we saw at Shaky Knees.
We last saw Panda Bear with Animal Collective at the Buckhead Theater almost exactly two years ago. We last saw Panda solo during the 2015 edition of Shaky Knees (this year's edition was last weekend, and we're just now recovering after the three-day festival followed by a week of work). Here's an outstanding video of a 2015 performance by Panda Bear which was quite similar to what we saw at Shaky Knees.
We're fans, but to be honest, Panda's released a lot of new music since 2015 and we didn't recognize but one or two of the songs that he played this year. If anything, his vocals sounded even better and more assured than in the past, and the electronics were generally a little harsher, but in a good way. We may not have been able to name the songs, but our friends at Setlists FM identified the following from the set:
- Dolphin
- Flight
- Calling In Sick
- I Know I Don't
- Sabbath
- Shepard Tone
- Crosswords
- Untying the Knot (instrumental)
- Buoys
- Sunset
- Drone
The encore consisted of You Can Count on Me, Woken, and Nod the the Folks.
Speaking of encores, we left our usual forward-right platform spot at Variety Playhouse and slipped back up to the balcony for the encore, just to compare the view and acoustics, both of which, it turns out, were excellent.
A great set and a great night, made even better by the fact that it all kicked off at 8:00 p.m. and we even managed to make it home before 11:30 - a nice bonus on a working weeknight.
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