Phoenix

It surprised me that Phoenix’s Oct. 1 show at Tipitina’s sold out. It shouldn’t have: they’re veteran musicians touring their critically acclaimed fourth album. Yet for some reason, Phoenix just didn’t seem to generate the same attention as the sold out Andrew Bird show occurring two days later. That was very stupid of me.

The surprises were endless last Wednesday, the first coming from the sign explaining that the original opener, the electronic pop group Chairlift, would not be performing. In their stead was the local MyNameIsJohnMichael, recently returned from an East Coast tour. Seemingly ecstatic to play an unplanned show, the sextet rocked out with a joie de vivre that seemed to have derived from Phoenix. By the end of their short set, they did exactly what they set out to do — get the audience and themselves pumped for the headliner — with their fun and danceable pop rock.

When the Frenchmen finally came out, frontman Thomas Mars himself seemed surprised by the legion of fans he commanded in the packed thousand-person venue. The roars of the crowd were tacked onto the end of every song, continued during Mars’s “Merci Beaucoups” and only ended when a new track began. New album highlights like “Lisztomania” and “Girlfriend” turned into giant sing-a-longs, and earlier hits like “Too Young” and “Consolation Prizes” peppered nostalgia throughout the night.

The most exciting surprise of the set, however, was the music itself. Phoenix has always been about the French electro-sheen over a kind of “soft” rock, comparable to Canada’s Metric. But everything changed during the live show. One adjective I never thought I would find myself use when talking about Phoenix is face-melting, but that’s exactly what it was. Toward the end of the night, guitarist Christian Mazzalai gave long stretches of overwhelming guitar solos, especially in “Rome” and during the encore with “1901.” Coupled with the seizure-inducing light show, Phoenix made sure that even the people who opted for Tipitina’s free earplugs had their senses rocked.

The show made me realize that Phoenix is about one album away from hitting it really big, like fellow countrymen Daft Punk big. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is one of the best albums to come out this year and combined with their exhilarating live shows, Phoenix fans might eventually have to shell out serious cash to see them in a larger venue like the New Orleans Arena.