Austin’s psychedelic rock darlings melted lots of happy, high faces on Thursday night at the sold-out in Boulder. The band summoned the essential spirit of psychedelic surf rock by blasting the Beach Boys’ theremin-laced classic “Good Vibrations” as they took the stage and launched into their two-hour-plus set featuring material from their three albums, “Phosphene Dream” (2010), “Directions to See a Ghost” (2008), and “Passover” (2006).
The band’s hypnotic, mind-numbing, powerful rock drone is evocative of the Velvet Underground, the Doors and Texas psych-rock pioneer Roky Erikson in their darkest moments, but still manages to sound fresh and original. The Angels kept things interesting by interspersing several giddy, surf-inspired pop numbers like “Telephone” into the otherwise ominous set. In classic psychedelic tradition, the band played in front of a mesmerizing backdrop that was accentuated with a simple but highly effective light show enjoyed by the sweaty, swaying crowd packed into the Fox.
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Michael McGrath is a Denver area photographer. His work is available at . Visit .
