September 13, 2010

Panda Bear played Governor's Island

By the time Panda Bear took to his boards Saturday, it had already been a long night of droned synth heavy soundscapes that dazed the crowd. Entering among heaps of smoke Panda wasted little time getting down to business. He began his set with the some ambient sounds before launching into a solo take on the Merriweather track "Daily Routine". Instantly sparking the crowd, Panda Bear rarely let the momentum down during the entire night. Mixing and twisting his way with thick juicy beats and throbbing bass, Noah Lennox did an amazing job blending new material from unreleased tracks much in the sense of former Animal Collective shows. However when he wasn't teasing the crowd with new nuggets he powered through stellar performances of recent summer singles "Tomboy" and the set highlight "Slow Motion" as well as Person Pitch closer "Ponytail" and an enthralling rendition of "Comfy in Nautica" in which the entire crowd surged toward the stage with each blasting beat. The setting of lower Manhattan to the left of the stage left quite the ominous tone for the show however the gargantuan and clear sounds was some of the best I have ever heard for an outdoor show. Despite the short set time, Panda Bear did a good mix of crowd pleasers and new material with the usually bizarre background images and pillars of smoke.

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