REVIEW – POND
With coffee in hand, the crowd quickly started to file in on Oct. 26th at The Backroom at Colectivo to see the sold-out POND. The band ran on stage and with 0 introductions jumped into their psychedelic set starting with 30,000 Megatons. Out of nowhere POND took no time to warm the crowd up and get everyone moving. This ignited what would be a fantastic hour and a half set filled with 15 fairly long songs.
With no hesitation after ending their first song Sweep Me Off Your Feetstarted and the crowd was entranced with the methodical waining of frontman, Nick Albrook. The psychedelic Australian band, consisting of a few members of Tame Impala, took every opportunity to switch the tempo on the crowd. Creating an almost wave like feeling like everyone was on a sonic cloud.
Not known for being conventional POND switches instruments or tone from song to song. Although it felt a little disjointed in some songs like Burnt Out Star, it somehow came together by the end. With the Backroom being a fairly small venue it was an extremely intimate show and Nick Albrook in an almost hypnotizing fashion was bringing the crowd closer and closer. It wasn’t until he started crowd surfing for almost half of a song that you realize the show was building up to this.
After coming from Tame Impala you realize that it doesn’t matter what venue size your band is playing in you are going to make it feel like a stadium. And that’s exactly what POND did, they played big, loud, trippy songs and the crowd was invested the entire show even pulling the band back for a two song encore that left my ears ringing with complete joy. I would definitely go POND or any of their other collaborations. These guys know how to get the crowd involved at every turn. WIth an invitation to play pool with them at the bar next store, POND departed the stage and left the crowd still wanting more.
SETLIST:
30.000 Megatons
Sweep Me Off My Feet
Sixteen Days
Waiting Around for Grace
Whatever Happened to the Million Head Collide /Alpha Beta Gaga (Air cover)
Zen Automaton
Tasmania
Fire in the Water
Burnt Out Star
Giant Tortoise / Eye Pattern Blindness
Paint Me Silver
The Weather
Encore:
Midnight Mass (At the Market St. Payphone)
Man It Feels Like Space Again
