I always check out upcoming concert schedules in cities I’m about to visit. Usually, a cool concert doesn’t line up with my vacation plans. You can imagine my joy when I saw that Future Islands were going to be in Paris during the time of my trip. So, in addition to the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and street-side cafes, my wife and I were set for a special night (une soiree speciale) at the Centquatre concert hall in Paris.
The Centquatre is a fascinating place; a former cemetery transformed into, as their website says, “an infinite place of art, culture, and innovation.” It’s about 400,000 square feet of customizable public space to experience art. They provide a plethora of cultural activities: dance performances, kids programs, culinary classes, business incubators, art installations, technological demonstrations, a restaurant, coffee cafe, Saturday farmers market, and oh yeah, concerts.
Longtime readers of Pop Transmission may remember the previous post upon my late discovery of Future Islands in 2020 (Future Islands: As Long as You Are Review). It was “”For Sure” and their sixth album, As Long as You Are that finally opened my ears to the band. I also picked up 2014’s Singles album with “Seasons (Waiting on You),” the song memorably featured on David Letterman and the top song of the year on Pitchfork, NME, and Spin. They are known for the baritone voice and emotional energy of front man, Samuel Herring, and a sparkling synth player, tight drummer, and atmospheric guitarist.
They opened with a slow, intense song from 2011, but had the packed crowd in motion with “For Sure.” The fans were along for the ride with Herring’s anguished contortions from the start. The 20 songs of the set were spread out so evenly, basically several songs from each of their six albums. Not sure I’ve ever seen that. Usually, the latest or most popular songs dominate a show. I also appreciated that Herring introduced each song since I’m unfamiliar with their earlier material. They included three recent singles not on any of their records: “Peach,” “King of Sweden,” and the just released “Deep in the Night.” “Seasons” was indeed the hit of the night and “A Dream of You and Me,” also from the Singles album, was another uplifting standout. The set ended with the moving “Thrill,” from As Long as You Are. They went way back to their beginnings in the encore with the final two songs being a rather sloppy audience- requested version of their very first song (“Beach Foam”) and 2010’s “Vireo’s Eye.”
D² Rating ◼◼◼◼◼ (A good show + Paris = 5 squares)
Trivia: Next year Paris will become the second city to host what event three times?
Answer: The Summer Olympics (1900, 1924, and 2024)
Trivia: Ok, that was too easy, let’s add on to it…What city was the first and what city is next in line to host the Summer Games three times?
Answer: London (1908, 1948, and 2012) and Los Angeles (1932, 1984, and 2028)
I included “For Sure” in the previous post as a Future Islands highlight. This time I’ll go with “Seasons:”