The 92s seemed somewhat disoriented playing in the Link Gallery of Krannert Art Museum, perhaps because they’ve grown accustomed to packed, sweaty house shows around Urbana where the crowd is there more to dance and get plastered rather than actually listen to the music. Luckily, in the past house show-full year, the band hadn’t forgotten how to deliver a super tight performance. There were even a couple new songs, on which frontman Dan Durley treated the audience to some falsetto.
Next up was Diamond Youth, a band that I’d not heard much of before their set, but was pleasantly surprised. Imagine a pop-punk Queens of The Stone Age. Hyper-melodic songs with meaty bass-lines to back them up — it’s not the kind of music you get bored of easily.Now, maybe I’m anticipating American Football’s set too much, but A Great Big Pile of Leaves just didn’t really do it for me. Of course they have their fan base, who came out in droves to see the emo-revival act, but I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking why settle for this when we’re gonna get the real deal come Sunday, right?
Later in the night, I caught the second half of local mainstays Elsinore opening for Real Estate, which was the jolly experience it always is. I’m in awe of people who appear as happy to be doing what they’re doing as Ryan Groff — and his being able to express that perfectly through music makes it even more extraordinary. However, Elsinore was a strange pairing with Real Estate, whose apathy and equally apathetic style of music soon washed over the crowd once they took the stage. There’s not much to say about Real Estate at this point. If you like to be chill and sway along to some chill tunes, then you like it, if you don’t, you don’t.
Also worth noting: there was an aftershow last night as well. It was in a basement and there were dudes in hazmat suits and light up glasses playing with thousands of dollars worth of synths, vocoders, guitars, smoke machines and probably drugs. —Maddie Rehayem
Krannert’s performance on Thursday night was big contrast in styles. Elsinore, whom most of us have probably become too familiar with, was big and energetic, whereas Real Estate was low-key almost to the point of being disinterested. I would never accuse Elsinore of not showing up for a show, and for their big moment opening the 10th Pygmalion, they did not disappoint. Their set was fun, front to back, with happiness exuding from the horns section and folksy charm emanating from the violinist accompanying the band’s mainstays. They played a mix of new and old, with the highlight really being the new songs, which really show how the new lineup has come together. Elsinore’s set was solid, and reminded me how good they can be. On the other hand, Real Estate was exactly how I remembered them to be when I last saw them in 2009: technically solid but unimaginative. The music of Real Estate has a laziness to it that is good for many things, but following Elsinore’s energy is not one of those things. To me the songs were played exceedingly well, but Real Estate’s delivery was flat. The band didn’t outwardly appear to want to be elsewhere, but they didn’t seem to be enjoying themselves the way Elsinore did. On the whole I was not disappointed by what Real Estate brought to the Krannert stage, but having seen them live twice now, I think I’ve met my quota of Real Estate concerts. — Chris D. Davies
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Photos courtesy of Chris D. Davies.