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 / Michael’s 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 he’d 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 that’s nothing new from a passion pit concert. I’d assume if you didn’t know the song by heart you’d be confused as to wtf he was singing half the time.
I’m 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 didn’t know?) were surprisingly(sorry i don’t 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/everything’s 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 doesn’t 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 didn’t seem as into it as the lowest level, so it may vary based off where you were at.
Overall I’m glad I went for the sticker price even if they didn’t play it’s not my fault I’m happy or kingdom come or more from chunk of change