Show Review: Toro Y Moi @ Emo’s (2/2)

Finally caught up on processing pics. This latest round is for Toro Y Moi playing Emo’s East with Dog Bite and Wild Belle opening.

I will summarize the review here, so this is goodbye.

I am pretty sure I first saw Toro Y Moi at SxSW three years ago during a day party inside at The Mohawk, delighted by the hazy electronic goodness. The next time was his opening shot for Caribou at Emo’s outside. That was a stellar show. Next go was outside at The Mohawk as a headliner, a show we were very meh about. This is it for me; the big house at Emo’s, weird vibes from a sold out crowd, cell phones galore (including in the photo pit), bros yelling song names.

Read on for dark pics and a few more thoughts…

I last caught Dog Bite opening for his former band (our touring musician gig), Washed Out. That was the rain dance show, but Dog Bite was pre-buckets so their set would have won the night had it not been for the magical nature of Memoryhouse in the rain. I didn’t get to shoot these guys, about fifteen minutes after dealing with the dickheads in the lot next door (going to have words with 311). Best song of the night award goes to the latest jams offered up by Phil Jones and team.

Wild Belle sort of stumbled into Indie spotlight, at first a we-know-nothing band that got radio play on SiriusXMU. Bro/Sis duo out of Chicago, Natalie and Eliot Bergman bring a down tempo reggae haze. How did it translate live? Well, pretty well. Natalie’s vocal is simple and pure, certainly solid enough. Every time Eliot touched that giant sax, the crowd cheered. I was pretty well shocked. It was a complete sound filled out by touring band mates, though a very short set for a middle opener. Makes sense, they are “new”. I hope they evolve a bit and share vocals more in coming material.

Chaz Bundick is a big deal now, I guess. Pretty big house, lighting props (though underutilized), annoying “VIPs” in the photo pit with their cell phones (don’t mind them when they stay out of the way, but holding the phone out as far as your arms can reach? <-ugh). It all just sets me off and makes me hypercritical. Well, like many bedroom laptop bands, Toro Y Moi has figured out how get a better product on stage. Though tied to a keyboard and behind the round glasses, he seemed to be connecting with the crowd. Thankfully, “Talamak” was early the set list so that dude could stop yelling it whenever there was an opportunity. And it was the best jam…

Anyway, doubt Chaz and Co. will be shrinking any time soon, so I will let him go into the ALT-O-Sphere.

More pics and prints available at the photo site…