WBRU's Top 10 Shout-Outs at Glass Animals

On Saturday, Glass Animals played the final show of their 2015 North American tour. In honor of the end of the whirlwind, month-long, coast-to-coast tour, they peppered the concert with shout-outs to their opener, Gilligan Moss, their soundman, and their techs. Here’s our version: WBRU’s Top 10 Shout-Outs at Glass...

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6.23.15

On Saturday, Glass Animals played the final show of their 2015 North American tour.

In honor of the end of the whirlwind, month-long, coast-to-coast tour, they peppered the concert with shout-outs to their opener, Gilligan Moss, their soundman, and their techs. Here’s our version: WBRU’s Top 10 Shout-Outs at Glass Animals’ Show at the Met.  

10) Gilligan Moss

Our first shoutout goes to Gilligan Moss, a New York-based producer, and his frontman, Ben, for putting on a stellar opening show for the full house. You might already know him from his remix of Glass Animals’ “Gooey;” indeed, the version got a huge cheer as it was debuted for the waiting audience: “You might recognize this one,” announced Ben. The duo got everyone dancing immediately with their brand of spacey, groovey electronica — a difficult feat for an opener, but they make it seem easy. They finish with a four-on-the-floor banger that gets everyone in the audience dancing, including Ben, who jumped down into their midst. Incredibly, this is their first tour — before opening for Glass Animals, Gilligan Moss had played live only once. The performance indicates that we can expect big things from him. The first EP, Ceremonial, drops in August; look out for it here.  

 

9) Purple, Green, and Flashing Lights… oh my.

Shoutout to the lighting! Glass Animals’ set opens stealthily. First the intro music fades out (killer job on the intro playlist, by the way, Met). Then, lush green stage lights highlight the space. A constant watery, jungley ambient track begins to play. Finally, Glass Animals come on stage. Throughout the show, the vibrant, jewel-toned lighting anticipates and heightens each moment. They embellish the minimal synth opening of “Exxus” and flash brightly during crowd-favorite “Gooey.” 

8) The Sing-Alongs

The sing-alongs deserve our next shoutout. Glass Animals’ songs, at first glance, wouldn’t seem made for sing-alongs: not when the lyrics include lines like “wiggle toes on wicker braids” (from “Walla Walla”) or “fresh out of an icky gooey womb” (from “Gooey”). However, the music and catchy poetry of the lines seems to transcend that. The audience sings along to almost every piece, belting it out especially during “Psylla” and “Flip.” Even on stage, most of the band is singing.
 
 

7) Gold Cape Guy

Shoutout to you, Gold Cape Guy. During the last song of Gilligan Moss’ set, a guy wearing a shimmering gold cloth as a cape jumps on-stage and dances frenetically as Ben makes his way through the audience. Why’s he there? We’re not sure, but we were sure glad to see him when he reappeared for the final Glass Animals song — last of the North American tour.
 

6) The Cheers

The #6 shoutout spot goes to all your cheering! BRU has never seen the Met so full. The sold-out, highly coveted show led to a crowd that was rowdy and screaming its heart out at every opportunity. No matter what the band said or played, it seemed to be greeted by loud cheers. Some of the loudest occurred whenever Dave Bayley, singer of Glass Animals, called out his refrain, “You guys alright?” Honorable mentions: when the first arpeggios of “Gooey” played, when the audience cheered for an encore, and when the band gave a shout-out to Gilligan Moss.

5) Dave’s Dancing

It’s a little frenetic, it’s a little slow-motion, it’s a little graceful and heartfelt, and it’s a whole lot of fun to watch. At one point, Dave, the lead vocalist seemed to stand on the drum set with a tambourine; at another, he crossed the stage and sang to the audience. The high point, of course, came during the encore when he jumped down into the crowd and gave everyone some dancing lessons.

4) Gooey

This song deserves a shoutout all to itself. The lights go dark after the fourth song, “Psylla.” A pause. Then, quietly, the distinctive first notes of “Gooey.” This is what the audience has been waiting for and they make it clear with a huge cheer. Unnecessarily, Dave announces, “This song is called ‘Gooey.'” Everyone’s dancing and shouting along, especially to the lyric “peanut butter vibes.” The song is different live — it has room for the band to jam and expand upon the reverb-y beats of the recorded version. The unexpected notes are well-received; the audience continues to dance as the set fades to black once again.

 

3) The Guitar and Bass Solos

“Gooey” isn’t the only song that receives the live treatment. Although Glass Animals’ recorded music relies on synthesizers and produced sound, they have a commitment to playing all sounds live. Each band member played a mix of synthesizers and traditional instruments. The more traditional instruments, like guitars and drums, gave them the freedom to take soaring, melodically new and interesting solos like the guitar and bass solos on “Psylla.” Glass Animals, like too few other modern bands, makes their live show worth it.

2) “Mr. Kanye West”

After several minutes of resounding and imploring cheers from the audience after “Cocoa Hooves,” Glass Animals comes back on for an encore. They start with a familiar bass drum rhythm. “This one is by Mr. Kanye West.” It’s a cover of “Love Lockdown,” and it works exceptionally well when done Glass Animals-style. Some of the drum beats become rhythmic “ohs,” and Kanye West’s auto-tuned vocals shine when performed with Dave’s breathy vocals. The audience, of course, loves it, and they love it even more when Dave dives into their midst. You can watch an in-studio version of their incredible “Love Lockdown” cover here.

 

1) The Energy. Also…Fruit??

The final shout-out is a tie. This was Glass Animals’ last show in the U.S. for a while, and they made it a good one. Their energy washed over the audience as the crowd responded in full. For the final song of the encore, “Pool,” Gilligan Moss and roadies danced on stage, hugged, looked overjoyed. Eight people on stage (including gold cape guy) were celebrating the end of the tour and an amazing last night in Pawtucket. Last but not least, set lists, pineapples, bananas, and other fruit (where did they come from?) were thrown into the waiting hands up front. A fitting souvenir to a stunning evening.
   

Check out all the photos below!

Photos courtesy of staff photographer Gray Brakke

 
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