Concert Review - Silversun Pickups - July 27, 2010

As a rather nice surprise, my friend Patrick called me up around 6:30 P.M. Tuesday night and asked me if I wanted to go see Silversun Pickups. The show started at 7:00, so I quickly agreed, and off we went.

What a show! Opening were the Henry Clay People and Against Me!, both of whom I was unfamiliar with. I had heard one Against Me! song before, and we heard another one in the car on the way to the show. HCP were performing when we got there. They played a decent set, and were followed by Against Me! Their set was a bit harder, but it was more of a melodic type of punk rock, but not quite pop-punk or anything like that. You could tell their singer was having a blast. My major complaint regarding both HCP and Against Me! was that their keyboard players were drowned out in the mix, but that's more of a mixing complaint than it is regarding them.

It was hard to get a picture of just Christopher Guanlao! 

Silversun's performance was more than I thought it would be. It was all energy, all night. Drummer Christopher Guanlao was arguably the most energetic drummer I've seen live. I've never seen a drummer perform open-handed before, so it was pretty cool to see and recognize this technique.

One of the highlights was watching bassist Nikki Monninger play -- what a talented bassist! I also enjoyed the crowd's enthusiastic response every time she sang a lead vocal.

Bandleader Brian Aubert was right on, enjoying performing for the crowd, telling us that the band always got excited when they planned a stop in Salt Lake City. While his guitar playing was great, the highlight of his performance was his unique voice.

Often, due to my position and lighting, it was difficult to get a decent picture of Silversun's keyboardist, too.

Unfortunately, I was unable to see keyboardist Joe Lester for the majority of the performance, but unlike with the Henry Clay People or Against Me!, he was able to be heard loud and clear throughout the whole performance.


All in all, though, it was an absolute blast of a show to attend. I hope to catch Silversun again, they're a phenomenal band. If you haven't listened to them before, check out their music!

Update 7/31 - Here is the video I shot of "Well Thought-Out Twinkles," the second song in their set. Sorry for some of the sound distortion, there wasn't really anything I could do about that.