Phillyist Rewind: Passion Pit with Tokyo Police Club at the Mann

Toyko Police Club (Photo by Allison Krumm)

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Seeing Passion Pit and Tokyo Police Club play at the Mann this weekend was a bit of an experiment. How would the indie rock set, new dance rock trend-setters, and yes, hipsters combine and respond to seeing their new favorite iPod residents play in a classy joint? Well, it turns out they liked it, they really liked it. In a house more packed than expected (because the Mann is fairly large), the crowd warmed up to the sounds of Tokyo Police Club, a band that deserves more credit that it actually gets.

TPC played plenty off their newest album, but the few older songs garnered great cheers as well. The boys from Canada didn't really hit their stride, however, until about the fifth song. With the kids in the pit jumping and clapping along, Tokyo Police Police club urgently shredded (with flair on the guitar!) through "Big Difference" and into "Breakneck Speed." With people still streaming in for the headliners TPC wrapped up their set with the audience up and dancing in the aisles. We were left with the feeling they were just getting started, and with considerably more material to pull from than Passion Pit, it's almost a shame they couldn't keep going.

EXCEPT—While Tokyo Police Club got this show off to a great start, the craziness that occurred when Passion Pit took the stage was like nothing we've ever seen before (and we've been to just about every type of show you could imagine with the possible exception of country). To have such utter madness erupt for a band with only one album, well, we wouldn't have believed it if we hadn't seen it ourselves. Not that it was undeserved.

From the first song to the last, the level of performance from Passion Pit was bar none. Their set was so electric they were being tipped from the pit! And not small bills, no, no. One concert-goer slipped lead singer Michael Angelakos a twenty dollar bill while the band worked out a technical issue. As the show went on Michael would periodically try to give the bill back, each time being refused, until finally some other audience members threw a few singles on stage. Aren't bras and underwear the more traditional thing to fling? Hey, these boys aren't strippers, but they sure are stars.