Dirty Projectors @ The Independent

Last Friday night, Dirty Projectors stopped in at The Independent, and H.A.D. was there to catch the show. The band played a relatively short set, that was mainly focused on last year's Rise Above. They did, however, play some other material, and even ventured to put one new song out for consumption.

While the setlist-wise the show shared many characteristics with last fall's outing, the overall feel was quite different. Where last Fall's set felt like a tightly rehearsed band bringing their craft on the road, this show felt much more like a band actually playing together.

The band seemed just as tightly rehearsed (if not moreso), but the songs' instrumental breakdowns had greater depth, and the band members seemed to simply be having a better time. There was more laughter, and less stoic focus on getting parts of the performance to be just so. While the show wasn't sold out, it played extremely well to a devout crowd, and when Dave Longstreth returned (after quite a bit of cheering) for an encore he called out "Yeah? Alright!!!". It was quite clear that he was just as excited for the awesomeness of the evening as the audience was.

More photos at the H.A.D. flickr feed.