Scene and Heard

Deerhunter play an underpass

Photos by Tyler Trykowski » Deerhunter played some corporate-sponsored shows Saturday, September 25.

Follow the leader

Fly honey rockin' the DS.

Fly honey, generally.

This was the Urban Outfitters/Levi's-sponsored "Secret Generator" series, where artists play shows powered completely by a generator in a "secret" location. When I got there, I was expecting one of those smaller diesel generators, with a couple of speakers; something more acoustic. What we got was a professional, decked-out stage, complete with par cans and the festival fence. Good call though - this thing was packed, as it should be, because Deerhunter played an awesome set and braved the Chicago cold for their fans. (Towards the end of the set, Bradford is tuning his guitar frantically, and exasperatedly turns to the audience: "It's 90 degrees in Atlanta!")

According to them, this was the first time they'd played most of the Halcyon Digest songs live, but they sounded tight, pretty much like I remembered them from the record (minus the saxophone). No major departures or flourishes or experiments, but it still sounded better live. It always does. They encored with some older stuff, and that's when it really got good.

Catch Deerhunter on tour for the next month and change, and go buy Halcyon Digest today. (Maybe right now?)