Thursday night, I walked into a sold out TLA to the sounds of Austin’s Electric Touch playing an amped up and hard rocking rendition of The Beatles‘ “Come Together.” I was immediately taken as the four covered the Fab Four in such a manner that had the entire crowded belting along and thrashing about wildly. The band continued to play dance rock numbers from their debut album which dropped the previous week.

Electric Touch

The Electric Touch will be opening with The Airborne Toxic Event for the duration of the The Fratellis headlining tour, with festival stops along the way including their hometown’s City Limits festival.

The main event (I didn’t stick around for The Fratellis) came in the dynamic form of Los Feliz dark rock outfit The Airborne Toxic Event. As the stage techs set up, I peeped the set list which included the entirety of their self-titled debut album released last month and the non-album track “This Losing.” Only a few songs into the set, it was apparent that the five decided to disregard the list, but that in no way impacted the quality of the show.

After catching their set at Download: Philadelphia, which was without a doubt one of the best performances that day, I was more than excited to catch them playing to a sold out audience in the beautiful TLA. Despite the venue’s failure to set up the photo pit, I managed to snag a few good shots (below) by sneaking my way to flush against stage right in between a father and young son on my left and two teenage girls on my right. Like myself, bassist Noah Harmon thought it equally adorable and awesome that such a young kid was in the crowd and hopped up on a speaker throwing metal horns in the kid’s direction, much to the little guy’s delight.

The attention that The Airborne Toxic Event has received in its short time as a band is absolutely deserved. The crowd, myself included, roared with applause and sang along with most of the fivesome’s set. While the album is fantastic, nothing can quite compare to the energy of a live show, watching keyboardist/violinst Anna Bulbrook stomp around stage as she bows her violin or shakes a tambourine.

Drummer Daren Taylor worked up quite a sweat pounding away at his kit in time with Steven Chen‘s ferocious guitar riffs. Front man Mike Jollett exhibited a great deal of energy as he sang and playing guitar with fervor while wearing his heart on his sleeve. The energy and intensity is well worth catching. Don’t miss The Airborne Toxic Event as they tour the nation through the beginning of October.

Set List:*
Wishing Well
Papilion
Gasoline
Happiness Is Overrated
Does This Mean You’re Moving On?
This Losing
Something New
This Is Nowhere
Somewhere Around Midnight
Innocence
Missy

(*paper set list was played out of order)

Electric Touch: website | myspace
The Airborne Toxic Event: website | myspace | stream “Somewhere Around Midnight” | s/t album review | download: philadelphia

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