Ernest Greene’s chilled out keyboard vibes turned into rockus dance anthems at Washed Out’s final tour stop at the Spanish Moon Monday night.
And the Monday night showing proved impressive. Fans were packed tightly between the lower level bar to the venues brick wall. Others hung over the railing of the second floor, while more opted for a narrow view from the entrance area for more space.
New Orleans based rock duo Caddywhompus opened with high energy and loud noise pop rock to shake the Monday funk out of attendees. But the mass of equipment for Washed Out that pushed the two to the front of the stage mounted anticipation for what the headliner would bring.
As Washed Out took to the stage and reverberating keyboards crept up through the speakers, an extensive light show suddenly smacked the crowd. The room filled entirely with smoke for a variety of these light effects to cut through as they changed patterns and colors with each new song. All the while coats of colors made silhouetted figures of Greene and company.
With the first song complete in a soothing finish, the band was illuminated to and Greene broke his stoic demeanor to look up to the crowd of anticipating fans.
“How’s everybody doing?,” he asked. “Just because it’s a Monday night doesn’t mean we can’t have a good time.”
As the group launched into more synth pulsing music, each layer of added keyboards sent concert goers into continuously relaxed dancing. However, in moments when the drums rippled through the crowd with an extra explosiveness, lights spun off in all directions and had fans breaking into heavy swaying and cheering.
The addition of a full band to Greene’s set fully realized pleasant songs in a heavier but cleaner live performance. Drums and bass excelled each progression of sweeping synthesizers into epic territories that carried more weight than Greene’s studio work. Samples dropped in very cleanly, and the up tempo performance of many songs breathed new energy into most of Greene’s tracks.
The group encored with two songs that landed a one-two punch progression from light hearted to hefty dance-tinged enthusiasm. They pulled out all of the tricks at once from extensive synthesizer effects to instrumental booming that sent Greene and band mates rocking back and forth in an expressive but still resigned manor. Lights strobed and swung around rapidly signaling a crescendo in the music before the group closed out.
With Greene having invigorated fans greatly for a Monday night, the high energy end to the performance at 12:30 hardly could have allowed attendees to go home and sleep in preparation for today’s work.
