Aaron Conklin
We’ll set aside for a moment the complete incongruity of Overture Hall hosting a sold-out psychedelic rock show (a fact that was not lost on the performers; as Caden Lake James, the lead singer of opening act Twin Peaks quipped, “This is tidy. We’re not used to playing small dumps like this.”) Fresh off their first-ever Grammy win, Portugal. The Man filled and thrilled the space with lasers and guitar-fueled sound and fury.
The Alaskan band kicked things off with a one-two cover punch, segueing from Metallica into Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall,” then directly into “Purple Yellow Red and Blue” — establishing the rock and laser-show bona fides quickly.
Portugal frontman John Gourley and bassist Eric Howk, clad in caps and white jumpsuits that doubled as blank canvases, spent most of the night in shadow and the haze of the fog machine, their faces and bodies illuminated only by the multicolored lasers and strobes. Behind them, a massive screen displayed images and animations of mannequins that became more trippy and disturbing as the night progressed.
With the screen flashing kitchy phrases designed to substitute for between-song banter — yes, bringing up politics at the dinner table is kinda badass these days — Gourley and his mates were free to focus on barreling through the band’s deep catalogue (folks who only know the current radio hits likely weren’t aware it runs eight albums deep). There were plenty of obvious high points — “Modern Jesus” followed by “Live in the Moment” had the crowd primed — but even hits-in-waiting like “Rich Friends” hit home. Gourley and Howk thrashed surprisingly hard, sending a wall of sound into the cavernous confines. It’s been a long climb for these guys, and they’re clearly here to enjoy it.
Shout out to the brave kids who were standing — yes, standing — in the front rows of Overture Hall’s third deck, several hundred feet in the air. Good thing all those lasers and flashes weren’t vertigo-inducing.
