April 25, 2010 Buffalo, New York is often renowned for its proximity to Niagara Falls, Buffalo Wings, it’s heavy Canadian influence and as the epicenter of people who use of the word ’pop’ within NewYork. However, a relatively unknown fact is that Passion Pit’s lead singer Michael Angelakos is a Buffalo native; as such, one can imagine that their tour-starting concert in Niagara Falls would be an over-the-top affair filled with pomp and celebration. Or at least an event filled with an endless amount of Labatt Blue and a great opening act. And that’s exactly how that shit went down! The concert, originally slated to start at 9pm on Sunday, ended up starting at 11pm. At first, I was wondering how they could get away with starting two hours late, especially since the show was “16 and up with parent,” so that much of the audience would likely pass out by midnight. Little did I know that Niagara Falls is such a classy city that carding is nonexistent and as such these young, distraught and drunk dilettantes spent much of the time hounding the bar for Red Bulls and Vodka. Regardless, the venue was absolutely outstanding and reminded me of The Academy in Dublin, the venue where bands like the Arctic Monkeys, Editors, Kasabian and The Futureheads were first discovered. By 11pm, the opening act Mayer Hawthorne came on stage. Mayer Hawthorne is a soul musician who became popular by being featured as a Starbucks iTunes Artist of the Day. If I were to describe him in one phrase, I’d call him the “Eminem of Soul;” but don’t think that characterization is simply because he is racially unique for his genre. Instead, he provides a very different take on Soul music that incorporates elements of folk rock, twee and hip-hop. If genetic engineers one day come up to me and say that they’ve created a hybrid of James Mercer (The Shins), BB King and Eminem, I would have to break their hearts by telling them that their creation has been preceded by Hawthorne. Have you ever been to a concert where you thought that the opening act was boring, monotonous and/or unenthusiastic? If you can provide a negative answer to this question, I envy you because there have been many times I’ve found myself unenthused with unprepared, lackluster artists who don’t take advantage of the opportunity they’ve been given. Fortunately, Mayer Hawthorne was one of the most enthusiastic, crowd-pleasing openers I’ve ever seen. He actively tried to bring the crowd into his songs, which ranged from the twangy I Wish It Would Rain to a cover of Dr. Dre’s Forgot About Dre. Now let’s be serious here — in fifth grade, everyone loved this song because it oozed of badass themes and had a super fast chorus. I remember having pseudo-freestyle competitions on the playground that involved singing “Nowadays, everybody wanna talk like they got something to say...” as quickly as possible. That said, seeing a white guy in a bright red cardigan singing Forgot About Dre is probably one of the highlights of my life. All in all, Hawthorne was both a great open act and a great dresser. The only real negative of Hawthorne came up when my friends who met him during Passion Pit’s set labeled him as a “creeper.” As my friend Dakota and I muscled our way up front in between Hawthorne’s opener and Passion Pit’s set; I discovered that my stomach contained quite a few butterflies. I had seen Passion Pit three times in New York and each show was progressively worse, with the latest show in Central Park being quite unimpressive. Thankfully, I was about to experience a mind explosion, for the newly svelte Angelakos provided a show with cogent enthusiasm and much better vocal control. When most people remark about their feelings towards Passion Pit, they tend to focus on Angelakos’s incredibly shrill voice. As such, his delivery and control are key aspects to his live performance — facets that were missing in the band’s other shows. In Buffalo however, he seemed relaxed, comfortable and most of all excited to be in his hometown. The set they played went through every song of their 2009 album Manners sans Seaweed Song and through a few of tracks from their 2008 Chunk of Change EP. More importantly though, they played Dreams — a cover of The Cranberries that they released on Manners: Deluxe Edition. This rendition of a relatively monotonous 90s song was absolutely beautiful live, superseding the album version. By the time the set was over, we found ourselves absolutely ecstatic at the fact that $11 had bought us quite the evening. If you ever get an opportunity to see Passion Pit in Buffalo, definitely attend because the home field advantage and the band’s increasingly polished live performances will make for a great night.