The line for the show wrapped around the block with hipsters perching against the wall rolling their own cigarettes and messing with their hair. We were all herded into the second floor of Chicago’s Michigan Ave. Apple Store by several college-aged men with glasses that were way fancier than yours and a goth chick who didn’t seem very excited for the show.
Fortunately for her, the audience didn’t seem that excited either. The only smiles I saw came from two small children playing patty-cake while their father waited for Chairlift to take the stage, arms akimbo.
The store lighting gave the already out-of-place show an even more alien feeling. Chairlift came on late and played one of the most lifeless sets in the history of music. The sound quality was so poor that you had to strain to hear them play above the ambient noise of a crowded electronics store.
After six or so songs with energy levels ranging from catatonic to comatose they walked off the stage to tepid applause.
Passion Pit took the stage in front of a screen playing the iTunes Visualizer and played their way through their brand of mall-friendly electro.
The only semblance of excitement was when several kids jumped over the barrier and started a pitiful mosh pit. Flash-in-the-pan bands like these shouldn’t be allowed out of their Brooklyn lofts.
– Arthur Pascale