Animal Collective Live at The House of Blues in Boston

At 7:06 the doors to the House of Blues open for one of the wildest concerts they will put on this spring.  The fans pour in, filling the huge pit and general admission balcony.  The opening artist Grouper is far from appreciated.  Her droning synthesizers, overly distorted guitar and modulated vocals wash over the crowd like low tide.   There is no sign of Animal Collective until nine when the doors to backstage open with a billow of their signature smell. With every waft the crowd cheers louder and the anticipation builds.  With the first peek of the wild trio, the once stagnant crowd becomes a pool of ultra excited electrons.  They jump, bounce, push and shove.  The stage remains dark but the band begins to play.  Soon a psychedelic light show begins with blue and green strobe lights. The first song is an untitled track, which doesn’t appear on any album or EP.  The first song fades directly into their most popular piece My Girls.  The opening synthesizer echoes through the crowd with a wave of energy and excitement. The music of Animal Collective creates a distinct soundscape.  Their mixture of sharp percussion, foundation rattling bass, ambient synthesizers, and abrasive noises creates a sound that is lush and intricately woven with generous amounts of, what one fan described after the show as, “Ecstasticle Vibes” (Vibes that are similar to ecstasy). Each song had its own soul-shifting climax, which moved many concert goers to shake and groove for the whole two and a half hour set.  The intro to fourth song in Animal Collectives set pushed the whole crowd into the throws of a heroin binge. As the reverberated synthesizer swept across the venue and the intestine shaking bass began to compound its rumble, fans were paralyzed from their incessant dancing and thrown into a gentle sway of bittersweet sedation.  As the show came to an end with an upbeat groove from Summertime Clothes, the band retired to their backstage lounge. Fans cheered and screamed even chanted and it seemed there would be no return of the beloved Animal collective, but as the animal noises and howls began erupting form the crowed the faithful trio returned to the stage for one last song.  Just as they opened the show they began with an anonomys synthesizer beat that faded into My Girls.  As they played an beefed up and improvised live cut of their most popular track, the crowed broke into an uncontrollable bump and grind.  When asked, after the show, about the encore one fan says, “The energy in the room was infectious, all I could do was dance and smile.”  This was the feeling throughout the show and most fans had faces of pure joy and excitement.  Upon exiting the venue, the streets surrounding the House of Blues and Fenway Park were filled with coyote howls and laughter.