Indie-rock band The Shins played the Orpheum Theater in Downtown Los Angeles, CA on Monday night. The Shins kicked off the Oh, Inverted World: The 21st Birthday Tour at the Warfield in San Francisco. The Shins formed back in 1996 in Albuquerque, NM. The Shins had several lineup changes over the years with founder James Mercer (Lead Vocals/Guitar) being the sole original member still in the group and to be there through every lineup. Bassist/keyboardist Yuuki Matthews joined in 2011, guitarist/keyboardist Mark Watrous joined in 2014, drummer Jon Sortland and keyboardist Patti King both joined in 2016. The opening act Joseph is made of three sisters Natalie, Allison, and Meegan Closner. Joseph joined the Shins on several songs adding backing vocals and great harmonies.
The Shins have released five albums with the most recent being Heartworms released in 2017. Wincing the Night Away hit number two and Port of Morrow hit number three. It was when “New Slang” was featured in the movie Garden State (2004) that the group really found major success having their first two album sales go way up following the release of the movie. The Shins played a 22 song set starting with Oh, Inverted World beginning to end. Joseph joined in “Weird Divide,” “New Slang,” “The Celibate Life,” “Your Algebra,” and “The Past and Pending.” Once the 11 songs of the album were complete the Shins played nine more songs before the encore starting with “Pam Berry,” and included a cover of Stone Temple Pilots’ “Vasoline.” The last song before the encore was “Kissing the Lipless.” The two song encore was “Simple Song” and “Sleeping Lessons” with an interlude of Tom Petty’s “American Girl.”
The tour concludes September 16 in Portland.
Words and photos by Alex Kluft
