Last night at House of Blues, Silversun Pickups gave a great performance to a nearly sold-out crowd of diverse ages from teenagers who were skipping their homework that was due the day after, to middle-aged adults who were already drunk from watching the Browns earlier that day. The entire band was in top form. Singer-guitarist Brian Aubert’s guitar-playing was spot-on as he pulled off great solos in songs like “The Royal We” and “Out of Breath.” He also delivered a spine-tingling tremolo solo in “Panic Switch” before going into the real solo. His vocals were also uncompromised, sounding almost exactly like he does on the master tracks; it’s impressive to hear a voice so organic in this day and age of heavy vocal production. But Aubert wasn’t the only person in the band that shone bright; drummer Chistopher Guanlao was a flurry (as he always is), headbanging through his over-active drum-lines in “Panic Switch” and “Busy Bees,” and he surprised the crowd when he played acoustic guitar for the first verse in “Here We Are.” Even keyboardist Joe Lester, who’s the most low-key member of the band, got his time in the spotlight during “Bloody Mary” and “The Pit.” He played the heart-wrenching violin solo (on keyboard) in “Catch and Release.” But what was most relieving was seeing the bassist Sarah Negahdari (who was filling in for Nikki Monninger) hold her own that night. She wasn’t simply a bassist-for-hire; Aubert gave her the spotlight in “Simmer,” “Well Thought Out Twinkles,” and let her solo with the catchy bass-line of “Panic Switch,” and she sang the backup vocals that Monninger does in songs like “Mean Spirits” and “Little Lover So Polite.” The crowd wasn’t too rambunctious, but was definitely into the performance, singing along to the well-known verses and choruses in “Panic Switch” and “Lazy Eye.”
This article appears in Oct 17-23, 2012.