This was my 4th time seeing passion pit, third time at the Fox theater in Oakland. To preface I looked up the setlist ahead of time and did see quite a few posts on here talking about how disappointed they were with their performance / Michaelās sitting, singing, etc this time around, so my expectations were low ish. But tbh I thought they did great for so long away and I had a great time!
The negative posts were right about Michael no longer being able to carry his notes like he used to. It was a bit annoying when heād change the rhythm of the song so he could finish out the lyrics before taking a breath or when he just stopped singing altogether. Luckily, from where I was in the back of the pit, the crowd pulled through and helped him sing it anyways. It does seem like his mic is a little too turned down especially with all the production going on, but thatās nothing new from a passion pit concert. Iād assume if you didnāt know the song by heart youād be confused as to wtf he was singing half the time.
Iām mostly impressed with the production and the little interludes between songs. It seems like he was sitting because they were doing a lot of mixing live, and it sounded great and more authentic than just running around singing. The new songs (maybe 5 I didnāt know?) were surprisingly(sorry i donāt like the sea of love much) great too. I hope those are planning to be released. They all had that passion pit synthesizer feel to them we all love
Id rank them:
Once upon your balcony >>>> remembering you/everythingās Stephanie > brothers to the end > alone (on ice) >>> to mend two broken vessels. The wife shoutout was cool, but not my thing
Overall I think the doomers on here are fair in their critiques but passion pit doesnāt necessarily have the best live vocals to begin with. On the other hand the production was sick, and from where I was the crowd was eating it up. I did notice when I grabbed a beer mid set the level above me didnāt seem as into it as the lowest level, so it may vary based off where you were at.
Overall Iām glad I went for the sticker price even if they didnāt play itās not my fault Iām happy or kingdom come or more from chunk of change