Maybe they were energized due to the excessively long down time between bands, or maybe they just really liked the Boulder crowd, but certainly treated the sold-out audience to a captivating show. From the first few notes of “Camera Talk” until the last beat of “Sun Hands,” the band kept the crowd dancing through a mix of dense instrumentals.
Besides a couple of quick bows, Local Natives focused on playing music as their set encompassed nearly their entire debut album, “Gorilla Manor” and the Talking Heads song “Warning Sign.” Instrumentally, the band sounded fantastic. They created a rich, ground-shaking sound by interweaving guitars and layering them on top of keyboards and a dual drum setup. Even with all of these instruments flowing together, the songs remained crisp and clear. The same cannot be said for the vocals, which at times fell flat. The songs with lone singers sounded fine, but when multiple vocals were used, which the band does quite often, the sound was more homogeny than harmony. These issues aside, the energy level and sheer talent of this band made it worth the trip.
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Greg Stieber is a Denver freelance writer and regular contributor to Reverb.
Anya Semenoff is a Denver-based photographer and an editorial assistant at The Denver Post.
