Yeasayer Review/Vampire Weekend Winner/Built To Spill Giveaway

The Yeasayer/ANR/Washed Out show last night at the Fillmore was seriously in the top three of shows I’ve seen all year.  Holy goodness. Here’s CrossFade’s review and our little recap is below…

ANR were first and their set was flawless.  They played several tracks off their upcoming album Stay Kids (download one of them for free here), a few old favorites (“Dogs Barking”, “Kill South Beach Dead”) and finished off with their cover of Sonic Youth’s “Schizophrenia”, which is a testament to their musicianship that a duo can beyond adequately cover a quartet and do it justice.

Washed Out with his live touring band was fun, the added musicians added vibe to the set and had the crowd swaying along with their dreamy, gently-reggae-influenced beats.

Yeasayer, as I mentioned, is a band who kept coming up when people told me about their festival experiences – friends who saw slews of bands at Lolla, Bonnaroo, and more all brought up Yeasayer as one of the best acts, and last night they did not disappoint. They were full of energy and love for Miami, with main singer Chris Keating cracking Dwyane Wade jokes and reminiscing to the audience how he met his wife in our fair city.

(Anand in red, more great pics by Ian Witlen over at the New Times)

Their set was mostly tracks from the recent Odd Blood with a few favorites from All Hour Cymbals mixed in.  It’s obvious that these guys have been playing together a long time as their sometimes-complicated tracks seamlessly flowed from beginning to end.  I could’ve happily stayed on the journey and watch them for hours but eventually they began to wrap it up with high-energy performances of “ONE” and “Ambling Alp”.   The crowd cheered their asses off in a way seldom heard in Miami and a few moments later the band came back to close with “2080” and all was right with the world.  I will jump at the chance to experience this band again, no question, and am half-tempted to go see them in Orlando tomorrow night.

On to the giveaways!

First, congrats to Jorden, lucky commenter #19 who won the pair of passes to go see Vampire Weekend, Beach House + The Very Best next Wednesday at The Fillmore.

And… comment below to be entered to win a pair of tickets to see BUILT TO SPILL next Friday, October 15th at Culture Room!  Tickets are available for a totally reasonable $22.25 (fees included) right here.  We’ll pick a winner Friday morning at 10am and announce the next giveaway.  Thanks and stay tuned.