I’m yet to find a person who doesn’t like the Fleet Foxes after listening to them. They are just a solid band with very talented members. Now, whether that band would put on a great live show is another question. Their music is extremely complex vocally, and also very chill which could mean a few interesting things for a live show. Here’s my experience/verdict on the show:
Kevin, Alexa, my cousin Ryan, and I headed down to Royal Oak at about 6:15. We stopped in at the Royal Oak brewery and grabbed some good bar food before heading to the show. I couldn’t help but think that this might be the most interesting concert experience I’ll ever have. Dungen is an awesome Swedish Psych-Rock group and Fleet Foxes are extremely chill cave men looking guys…A very interesting combination. Well, we rolled up to the theater at about 8:10 and there was a decent line. We thought the line wrapped around a couple blocks but it turns out it was for a bar right next door. Kevin, Alexa and I grab a spot right in the middle tier of the ROMT. If you haven’t been there, it’s like the Fillmore in Detroit. It goes Bar, steps, Standing area with a rail, stairs, standing area with a rail, then main floor. Pretty cool. So we grabbed a spot on the rail because we decided that a Fleet Foxes concert is on that doesn’t need to be appreciated from the first row. Though, we did have second thoughts because we thought Dungen was gonna put on a high energy awesome show…
Well Dungen came out at 9ish to an unenthusiastic applause. They opened by just jamming for a few minutes…It was awesome. Though I couldn’t help but be angered at the whole country of Canada after some dumb girls from Canada who I had been chatting with beforehand asked me if there were any words in a disgusted tone…I wanted to bitch slap her. Well, Dungen put on a great show, but it was definitely toned down…but that was to be expected. Fleet Foxes core fans as a whole wouldn’t appreciate in your face rock. They played a lot of Ta Det Lugnt (Panda, Ta Det Lungt, Du E För Fin För Mig and maybe one more.) It was rockin’, but again, I couldn’t help but be pissed at the unenthusiastic crowd around me. The floor seemed to be enjoying it, but the fucking Canucks were too busy thinking about Polar Bears ice skating while slurpin’ up some Coca-Cola in Montreal and they weren’t shameful about making sure everyone knew they weren’t into it. Long story short, Dungen was awesome!
Fleet Foxes came out at about 10:30. Let me just throw this out there…I’m normally in bed by 10:30 and Fleet Foxes are super chill…I found myself almost falling asleep a couple times throughout their set. But alas, they were freaking amazing live. The lead signer blew me away! His vocals were spot on! There’s really not much to say about the show…They played a few new songs which sounded very much like their old stuff, which is a good thing I guess. I couldn’t help but imagine how awesome it would be to see them outside at like 10 at night. Say Grant Park in Chicago. I could see myself just flopped out on a blanket and passing out listening to them.
All in all, it was a pretty sweet concert, though it’s not comparable to most shows I’ve seen. I’ve seen some folk groups before live, The Decemberists being the first to come to mind. They are so dominate live and I think it’s safe to say that the Fleet Foxes are as well. Because of their strong performance, and because they played their music just about as good as you can live, I give them:
