@ZackTeibloom Lead singer Thomas Mars declared that Phoenix had to come to Texas to play for the biggest crowd of their career. They say “everything’s bigger in Texas” and it certainly held true for these guys.*

Phoenix is like Vampire Weekend’s older, wiser cousin from France. They both feature smart pop-rock with spry, high tinged guitars over frenetic dancing with a couple synths thrown in for good measure. While Vampire Weekend preps for the release of their second album after exploding on the scene last year, Phoenix’s rise to glory in the U.S. has taken pretty much the whole decade.Phoenix has been pleasing wiser indie-rock fans since their first singles in 2000, but it took this years Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix to capture mainstream attention. I was sad to miss them at Bonnaroo and couldn’t wait to see how they’d play live. There’s two ways to handle a big single. You can save it for the end or just get it out of the way early. Phoenix went for the latter and blasted into “Lisztomania” with it’s awesomely 80′s brat pack video, but I encourage you to see how they do it live:

The scarf-clad, jacket-wearing French men were a ball of energy for the entire hour, weaving in gems from the new album like “Fences” and “lasso” with older hits “Run Run Run” and “If I Ever Feel Better.” I’ve had friends try to classify them as “just one of those indie” bands whose songs all sound the same, but listen to more than just the singles. “Love Like a Sunset” is a nearly 8-minute movement Floyd-ian movement that takes almost 6 minutes to get to the words. They’re what happens when those indie-bands grow up.

We had Phoenix ranked #6 for the weekend, but the Cinderella story inched by Them Crooked Vultures for #1 of Friday. They closed with a raucous, extended “1901” as Mars took a journey into the audience to shake hands with the biggest crowd of his career. And who said France couldn’t conquer anything.

9.7/10

*Even if Andy couldn’t recognize their guitar player back stage.

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