Baltimore, sometimes four-piece but tonight three-piece, Animal Collective graced the stage of the (fairly) newly named ‘O2 Academy’ Liverpool this evening, greeted by a bubbling and enthusiastic crowd. I am not sure why I was so pleasantly suprised that a band on their 8th studio album were able to amply fill a fairly sizeable venue like the Academy, but I was. Touring on the back of the success of ‘Merriweather Post Pavilion’, it seems the avant-garde quartet have manged to work up enough hype and interest through a combination of heavy rotation on the usual ‘alternative’ music channels, BBC sessions and weekly music mag coverage to ensure a midweek gig with none-too-cheap ticket prices for a band that I suspect may have skated under most people’s radar since their 2000 debut is still very well attended.
Anyways, to the music......it started well – from my prime position very near the front of the stage the band opened with latest single and all round crowd-pleaser ‘My Girls’ . I rubbed my hands and grinned as I settled down with my expensive watery beer expecting an hour or two emersed in neo-psychedelic bliss. However, somewhere between the energetic opener and the self-indulgent seventeen minute reverb drenched psychedelic wailing with sonic-boom bass electrowanks I found myself feeling a little lost. ‘Maybe im just stood too close to the speakers’ i thought, ‘cos this just sounds a bit like a mess’. So, i went off to get another drink and stood somewhere a bit nearer the back where the bass wasnt interferring my ability to appreciate sound. Sadly things didnt seem to get better and i began looking around to see if anyone was looking as bored as i felt. Suprisingly, for the most part, they didnt, though i did notice plenty of people enjoying the gaps between songs to get in as much chat as possible. In fact, the background chatter was fairly noticeable part of the evening, which led me to conclude that maybe a big reason behind the good attendance was the popularity of the club night proceeding the gig..........
