Alt-J are notorious for selling out whichever venue they play in Portland... EVERY time. There's something about their eclectic sound that Portlanders swoon over.
Their last gig in town was back on October 16th of 2014 at the Roseland. They have slowly progressed through the venues in town over the last few years in Portland, starting at the Star with a capacity of 500, then moving to the Crystal Ballroom with a capacity of about 1,000, over to the Roseland with a capacity of 1,410, and now in the fall of 2015, the Memorial Coliseum with a whopping 13,000 capacity.
My good buddy Brendan (@indiealtpdx) who I met back at Lily Allen was kind enough to hold a spot in line for me since I had a class. I got there about a half hour before the show, and fifteen minutes before they handed out tickets.
Because of how popular Alt-J are, lots of people with the radio station had called in favors, and not everyone got guaranteed entry. So even though Brendan was one of the first people in line, the seats we ended up with were in row B. But hey, a free show with Alt-J is great no matter where you're sitting!
Joe Newman (lead vocals and guitar), and Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboard/vocals) came into the Bing Lounge before their first of two nights sold out shows at the Roseland. They played three songs: Warm Foothills, Left Hand Free, and Every Other Freckle, plus a short interview.
Before starting into the song Left Hand Free, Gus moved from a stool next to Joe (where he had been playing the glockenspiel) to the piano. When he sat down on the (cushioned) piano bench, it let out a small puff sound, and the entire audience started cracking up along with Gus and Joe - proving that fart jokes are funny no matter what age you are.
Joe couldn't even get out all the lyrics to Left Hand Free because he was still laughing when they began to play it.
There was no meet and greet after the set because they had somewhere else to be, but a handful of us were waiting by the side door for them to come out so we could say hi. A woman with KINK came out to us and said the band really had no time for signing anything when they came out, but she counted how many of us there were and returned a little bit later with press photos signed by Joe and Gus. A great little consolation prize! Joe had circled Thom Green (drummer who wasn't at the Bing show) in one person's photo, and written "Absent, lost shoes" next to it which we were all laughing about.
When Joe and Gus came out they apologized they didn't have more time to stay and chat, but they did end up signing a few things, and I somehow even got a photo!
All in all it was a really great little set, and I'm really glad I was able to see it!
Warm Foothills
Left Hand Free
Every Other Freckle
Interview
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