This post is from Out the Other's 2009 Bonnaroo Artist Previews, where I will be posting previews of all the musical acts playing the 2009 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. Please check out and subscribe to the full site to learn more about all of this year's performers.
There are few records that have been in heavier recent rotation than the new Phoenix album - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Despite the fact that I still think the title of the record is ridiculous, it's undeniably one my favorite releases of 2009 thus far, and I have no doubt that it will stay in the top 10 unless the second half of '09 shows this being a banner year for breathtakingly great indie rock. From the bouncy intro of "Lisztomania" to the closing fade of "Armistice," I can hardly narrow down which tracks are even my favorites - the whole thing is that great.
Phoenix has definitely come a long way since the subtle grooves of 2004's Alphabetical, which served as my introduction to the band after I picked the CD up on a whim one day at Tower Records that year. This was before my blogging days, but I pushed that album on everyone - we were in the midst of Maroon 5's heyday after all, and I immediately identified Phoenix as a possible gateway indie rock drug for your average Maroon 5 fan. And it worked too - songs like "Everything is Everything" and "Victim of the Crime" were unthreatening and poppy (and dare I saw Maroon 5-esque). I even got a boy I knew to swap out Songs About Jane as his go-to makeout music, and last I heard, he was still seducing the ladies with "If It's Not With You."
The thing was, as much as I loved Alphabetical, I thought Phoenix was pretty wussy. But all that changed in 2005, when I saw them live for the first time at Vanderbilt's Rites of Spring, and was floored by the band's ability to morph it's subdued and sexy songs into all-out dance party rockers on stage. They got a crowd of jaded, freezing cold college kids who had never even heard their tunes to shake their booties for the duration of their set, and I was dancing right there with them - with a jaw that kept dropping every time a familiar song got ramped up in a delightfully unexpected way. The standout that night was "If I Ever Feel Better," off of Phoenix's 2000 debut United, which you would never expect to be the pinnacle of a set when you hear the album version, but it absolutely was. Fortunately, Live! 30 Days Ago captures the electrified live version of that track so you can see what I mean.
I've only seen Phoenix once since that day four years ago, which is why I'm particularly pumped to see them at Bonnaroo. And it's been a few years since I saw them play an equally impressive set at ACL, so I can't wait to see what the new material sounds like live. After all, if the earlier, poppy-sexy grooves of United and Alphabetical could become so transformed on stage, I can't wait to see what Phoenix can do with the already dance floor-ready tunes from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. My dancing shoes are certainly packed and ready for me to find out.
"Lisztomania"
"If I Ever Feel Better (Live)"
Phoenix will play the That Tent on Friday from 11:30-12:15. Check out the full Bonnaroo schedule on the official Bonnaroo website.
