The last time Electric Guest played an announced show in Los Angeles, the Teragram Ballroom didn’t even exist. On Saturday night, it served as the location for their first hometown gig in support of their long-awaited second album Plural.
Five years is how long fans had to wait for the follow-up to 2012 debut Mondo. They waited an extra 20 minutes or so as technical snaffus caused a delay to the show. The band responded by doing an impromptu Q&A session, confirming among other things they’ll be playing Outside Lands this August.
With the new record out a full two months, fans had time to learn it front to back and were singing along with Asa Taccone’s sweet falsetto all night. Taccone’s voice registers at an octave I’ve seen very few guys able to handle, and it always manages to be pitch perfect.
A few songs into the set, the electropop group tore into “Back For Me,” my favorite track from the new record. The ultra-cool bass line that begins the track is very Kings of Leon-y, and the simple chorus is super hooky. It also received one of the biggest reactions of the night.
It was dope to see the band perform in and sell out a venue of this size after a fair amount of time away. I caught their “shake off the rust” low-key show at Monty Bar last year and it was clear there wasn’t much rust to be shook. The L.A. show was the last stop on a tour they’ve been on for the last month, including a pit stop in Austin for SXSW. The time on the road doesn’t seem like it weighed on them — they were having as much fun as anyone inside the venue.
The band didn’t wait until the end of the night to drop “This Head I Hold” — the song that put Electric Guest on most people’s radars years ago. It’s another funky song that is driven by the bass line and Taccone’s unique vocal stylings. It’s one thing to be able to make your voice sound like that on the record, but there’s no denigration from the studio to the live stage.
The band saved “Dear to Me” until the end of their show — and though they weren’t joined by our favorite sisters HAIM on stage like they sing backup on the record, I did spot Alana from HAIM in the crowd rocking out. I only ever see any of the HAIM sisters at the best shows, so that’s a big stamp of approval for sure.
Electric Guest said at the show they’d be on the bill for Outside Lands this year — hopefully another L.A. date happens sooner rather than later as well.
Photos courtesy of Stephanie Varela Rheingold
