Animal Collective @ Bowery Ballroom - 25 March 2006

I couldn't go see Animal Collective at Bowery Ballroom this past weekend because I had to go out of town. This saddened me because I really like this band and have yet to see them live. Thankfully, Mike (who has contributed to EAR FARM once or twice in the past) went and offered up some thoughts on the show in addition to the picture you see posted here.

He said:
"I hate myself for never going to an Animal Collective show before Saturday. Seriously, I feel gross about it, so many opportunities over the last three years and I just let them pass me by. Luckily, I was able to finally see them at Bowery on Saturday and it was a sublime experience. Though I've been bitching lately about how I thought the sound at the Bowery had fallen off, I have to say the sound on Saturday was amazing, completely drew everyone in. And the Geologist, the sound manipulator with the mining light front and center, is really responsible for creating much of the sound of the band. It's such a warm, inviting, primal thing seeing them play, I was truly blown away.

I ran into the Geologist's girlfriend before the show and she explained that the band does things in reverse of most other bands, meaning they write loads of new material, then play it on the road, then record it. That being the case, much of Saturday's set was culled from new material, and it was truly a pleasure hearing it for the first time. They also played some songs from Feels and (as far as I can remember) only one song from Sung Tongs. I think they played for two hours or maybe even slightly longer (again speculation as a bit of alcohol made precise details a bit fuzzy), making me remember how great it is to see a show that's NOT at Webster Hall on a weekend and thus is not guaranteed to have to wrap by 10 p.m. All in all, an amazing show from a truly innovative band."

Animal Collective has been featured in EAR FARM's 8+ series and put out one of EAR FARM's favorite albums of 2005.

UPDATE - Alias Pail has some MP3s from the show - go listen to them NOW!