It was only right to have high expectations of Thursday night’s show at the . The heady California alt-rockers’ current commercial radio domination paired with , and the band’s overall meteoric rise to fame, are all reasons fans and critics should hold Mikel Jollett and company to a high standard.
And to be fair, most in this sold-out crowd left the relatively early, efficient Denver show jaunty and smiling after an hour and 15 minute set that included selections from ATE’s two major-label releases, and most notably the crowd-pleasing hit “Sometime Around Midnight.” But this show did little to settle the debate among music snobs as to whether ATE is a pop original or simply a band with enough taste and smarts to emulate the best. Simply put: this show was good but not great.
Following a spirited warm-up by Los Angeles-area indie rock cohorts Voxhaul Broadcast, the Airborne Toxic Event walked onto a sparsely-set stage in which the only non-instrument focal point was a collection of upside down umbrellas strung up overhead. They opened with the angsty narrative “Numb,” and built momentum nicely with the similarly-themed “Wishing Well.” Both are songs that reveal the humanity and perspective in Jollett’s songwriting. But too often they more-than-hint at the influence of other bands and performers. (Insert the deriviative reference here. Anything from Iggy Pop to the Arcade Fire will suffice.) That begs the question as to whether the Airborne Toxic Event might have ever found commercial success these last five years were it not for concurrent music trends that dictated the popularity of an instrumental-heavy indie-rock sound.
There were arresting moments in this show. The band’s classically-trained violinist, Anna Bulbrook, owned the stage during “Wishing Well” and Jollett was all charisma during “The Book of Love.” But with the exception of diehard fans, and there were many, the vibe overall after this set was just underwhelming. This band may appeal to pop’s thinking side — they did after all take the band name from a section of author’s Don DeLillo’s novel “White Noise.” But expanded arrangements and more risky production could truly produce something epic from the Airborne Toxic Event as opposed to pedestrian radio fare.
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Elana Ashanti Jefferson is an editor at The Denver Post and a longtime music fan.
Tina Hagerling is a Denver photographer and regular contributor to Reverb. Check out more of her .
