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Australian indie-rockers Atlas Genius played Wednesday night in front of a big crowd at The Wiltern and were consistently excellent the entire night, with one exception.
I’ll get to that later..first lets talk about LA’s own Family Of The Year, who had a fantastic set before Atlas Genius took the stage. If you’re new to FOTY, listen to their full-length album Loma Vista, it’s a terrific album filled with hits like “Hero” and “St. Croix.” They rocked out on stage and it was apparent they were relishing the opportunity to play at The Wiltern in front of a large crowd. The band played nearly every song on the album and the performance was highlighted by sharp renditions of my personal favorites “The Stairs” and “In The End.”
After FOTY left it all on the stage, Atlas Genius came out and delivered a great headlining set. The sound quality was excellent and the best part about the set was the “little extras” added into nearly every song. Often times bands will run through their songs note by note, as if at a rehearsal. The boys from AG felt a lot more like jamming out and adding little goodies into their songs. Guitar solos, extended keyboard parts, mid-song jam sessions, between song interludes, drama-building intros…they made sure to get the most out of every song. As for that “one exception” I mentioned: the Wiltern crew decided to occasionally blind the audience with intense lights. The on-stage lighting was mostly great and enhanced the performance, but during a few songs they got a little crazy with it and cranked it up to an almost “seizure-inducing” level.
“Electric,” “On A Day,” and “Through The Glass” were particularly crisp and memorable. Closing the night out with a nearly six-minute rendition of their hit song “Trojans” was a great touch. After hearing the song hundreds of times on radio and TV, the band really gave it new life and it served as a perfect closer to the evening. If you’ve somehow missed out on Atlas Genius’ album When It Was Now, take the time to get the album and enjoy the body of work these guys have put together. If they play a show near you, don’t think twice about getting tickets–they put on one hell of a live show.
Atlas Genius – “If So”
