Live Review: Future Islands Put on A Master Class in Human Connection at Roadrunner
If you are like me, and most people, I reckon, the first time Future Islands came into your field of awareness was after their performance on Letterman, back in 2014. More specifically, singer Samuel Herring’s performance.
His gyrations, chest-thumping and naked emotion was all a bit too much for the average viewer at the time, and the response it generated initially confused him. No worries, it just took a little time for the rest of us to catch up.
Looking back, it would now be a bit unusual for a band to make their late night television debut just as their fourth record came out, but the band certainly capitalized on their opportunity and tonight was the United States tour kickoff show in support of People Who Aren’t There Anymore, their seventh full-length release.
Their formula hasn’t changed much in the ensuing releases, an upbeat synth-driven machine that is endlessly pushed forward by Herring’s relentlessly physical stage presence. “King of Sweden” seemed like the right choice to start the night as it kicks off the record, and the rest of the new material sounded good and got a strong reception. It is a bit disconcerting when the synthpop sound gets an occasional death metal growl from Herring as accompaniment.
As they worked through a variety of their discography, the band was stationed pretty far apart with Gerrit Welmers playing his keyboards perched high atop the stage, drummer Michael Lowry anchoring stage right and bass player William Cashion below Welmers. The physical separation of the three, with Herring being all over the stage constantly, didn’t matter, the band integrated in sound and purpose.
Herring remembered way back in the day playing the tiny, and sadly now defunct, Great Scott, Herring expressed true and gobsmacked appreciation about playing the cavernous Roadrunner and filling it up quite nicely. Based on the reception, they won’t be playing small clubs anytime soon.
Starting things off was an old-time friend & collaborator Ed Schrader, whose two-person project was named Ed Schrader’s Music Beat. You might have to set the ChatGPT creative slider to the “dull as possible” setting for that one, but luckily their music was a bit livelier.
During my research I discovered I actually own some records he’s on, lending vocals to Matmos’ The Ganzfeld EP and the Sub Pop 1000 compilation. He stuck mainly to a raw post-punk sound, hitting a floor tom and singing while partner Devlin Rice played bass. Schrader got invited up during Future Islands’ set to lend his voice on “Shadows” and Rice is no stranger to the band either, playing acoustic guitar on the Undressed 12-inch a few years back. It’s nice when you don’t forget your early friends, and Future Islands definitely did the pair a solid by inviting them out as openers.
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