1. There’s no slow opener to skip on tonight’s stacked bill. The venue is already full when Canadian indie-rockers Tokyo Police Club kick off the night’s festivities with a batch of straightforward, catchy tunes.
2. Portugal. The Man’s set is an expanded version of the Alaskan rock band’s 2013 Life Is Beautiful Festival performance, featuring many of the same fluid transitions and reprised melodies pulled mostly from last year’s Evil Friends. While you can enjoy flashes of the recorded versions of songs you know, the live renditions are more like aggrandized interpretations.
3. Continuing to indulge its affinity for performing covers and mashups, PTM takes on Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2),” “Dayman” from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia rock opera The Nightman Cometh and a new addition, Oasis’ “Don’t Look Back in Anger.”
4. Grouplove’s live performance is anchored by Ryan Rabin’s drums and new member Daniel Gleason on bass. They create a tight and precise foundation for the LA alt-rockers, allowing Christian Zucconi, Hannah Hooper and Andrew Wessen freedom to play it a little more fast and loose, focusing more on entertainment than instrumentation.
5. Grouplove might have been the headliner, but Portugal. The Man was definitely the highlight.
