AWmusic

I actually didn’t realize Maps and Atlases were playing until the day of the show and I didn’t get a chance to listen to their stuff going on. All I knew is that I figured that they had a large fan base with their large amount of myspace hits.

I had no idea what to expect but I think not knowing the band definitely hurt the experience. Maps and Atlases are a math rock band and I tend to struggle with that genre for unexplained reasons. Anyway during the performance, I tried to make out the vocals to no avail. They probably could’ve left the mics at home as it probably didn’t add that much to their performance. Vocals tend to be weak at Lee’s Palace anyway and it was pretty evident with a band like Maps and Atlases.

Maps and Atlases really showcased their technical proficiency. The band can play their instruments pretty well with a ton of guitar solos and a unique drum setup, the band was at the very least supremely talented. It does count for something, I can’t really deride them as much as I didn’t feel their performance. Good band nonetheless and really impressed with the skill of the drummer. Was it a glockenspiel with his left hand and drums with the right? That’s got to take serious talent. Overall, I dug the performance.

Witch by Maps and Atlases
You And Me And The Mountain by Maps and Atlases

Ra Ra Riot harnessed the energy given off by the crowd and put it into their performance. I wasn’t as big of a fan as the crowd was of Ra Ra Riot’s performance. The crowd was absolutely insane for them at one point starting a moshpit. A lot of singing along but let’s be honest while the band was just good, vocals were lacking but with facilitated by the crowd singing along. The band did screw up at point where singer Wes Miles said that it was one of the band’s biggest fuck ups. Either way, if you compare bands Princeton gets the one up for making sure that the show must go on.

I wasn’t a big fan of Wes Miles’ stage presence. He had this move where he would caress his heart area to try to seem passionate. The problem is that he kept resorting to that move and really it just looked kind of lame. Ra Ra Riot wasn’t all bad but it just felt like I was at a different concert from the crowd, it was full of energy but I guess a little too much as it seemed like a clear over reaction to the band’s style of music. While Ra Ra Riot didn’t necessarily disappoint, I don’t think they were great and I’ll be on the fence if I want to see them again (seems like it’s hard to get me out anyway so probably unlikely).

Not a lot of great photos of Ra Ra Riot. They were high energy and moving around quite a bit, making it really difficult to take a shot with my camera.

Dying Is Fine by Ra Ra Riot
Winter 05 by Ra Ra Riot

Check out the photo album here.

Apologies for the much less passionate post after reviewing opening band Princeton. Princeton was just in my eyes much more memorable and they could use the promotion anyway…

Tags: concert