- Rare sighting of Freelance Whales on land.
After Safari opened the show with lots of screaming that elicited zero response from the crowd, the packed Grog Shop woke up and cheered as the Freelance Whales took the stage.
Freelance Whales' songs have a wispy, idyllic quality, complete with xylophone, that are getting decent radio play and drawing Death Cab for Cutie comparisons. They also seem to have a younger audience, since all the singing along and maniacal dancing came from the short people with marks on their hands indicating they were underage.
Drummer Jacob Hyman had an old metal watering can in his set, giving them that extra quirk that you’d never remember if you hadn’t read this review.
The Tokyo Police Club crowd that surged in was quite a bit different from the youngsters that showed up for the Whales — more dancing, head banging, and one crowd surfer.
TPC’s keyboardist Graham Wright dances behind the keys like he’s getting electrocuted. They might have a winning gimmick if his legs played their own instrument, but it was mostly just distracting. The Grog Shop crowd loved them though, and begged for more when their last song ended. — Crystal Pirri
