While everyone else was kicking it at Girl Talk and dancing the night away on the West Side of town for MFNW, an epic happening was just beginning on the East Side at a venue that often hosts an unreliable and sometimes difficult to please crowd. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros brought an energy to Holocene that I believe is rarely found. The 10 piece group with a giant’s sized tambourine, two guitarists, bassist, drummer, organist, accordion, and percussive section, with group vocals, and a Wiley front man, that put the zam in zamboni stepped up to the occasion! Think the energy of a Gospel choir in New Orleans on a surreal Sunday morning juxtaposed against the contagious rhythms and crowd interaction of Arcade Fire or any other incredibly interactive and dynamic group spliced with a contemporary psychedelic infusion. Holocene was euphoric for an hour and half last night. The crowd was dancing and singing with more gusto than Wrigley’s got gum. In the midst of a killer version of “40 Day Dream,” a mic shot out… It really takes an electrical failure to put a band to the test. Well, I’ll tell ya what… the Magnetic Zeros and the crowd embraced the failure… and just like a Sunday gospel party in New Orleans, we communed with each other in the cubicle white room, singing and clapping the night away. Once the electrical problems were resolved… the crowd kept clapping and then –the Magnetic Zeros kicked back in with a wammm +10! If this energy wasn’t enough, we all thought to ourselves whilst sipping from the communal bottles of wine floating around from the stage— more was to come…after all this was truly a special and incredibly intimate evening. Jade (one of the two lead vocalists) threw her cards down, as if to say thank you and I love you, belting to the ecstatic crowd with a voice so powerful, she would have made Joan Baez cry! After all was said and done, Edward Sharpe and The (Truly) Magnetic Zeros had come to Portland and owned an evening in a way that I have only seen a few bands do… It really was the “Magical Mystery Kind!”
My advice to everyone is to go buy their CD and see them in concert!
HERE’S TO MFNW ’09 BRINGING THE RUCKUS AS USUAL!