Review: WFNX's Miracle on Tremont Street 2009

Published Dec. 8, 2009 at 9:54 p.m.
Passion Pit, Phoenix, and Spoon, live at the Orpheum Theatre, December 4, 2009
A quick, mildly sycophantic shout-out to the "powers that be" here in Phoenix -Land: This year's Miracle on Tremont Street was nothing short of a wicked pissah powerhouse bill. The grand old Orpheum creaked under the weight of a sold-out audience, and a pronounced feistiness prevailed...

Photo: Nick Curran Phoenix performs at WFNX's Miracle on Tremont Street at the Orpheum Theatre

A quick, mildly sycophantic shout-out to the "powers that be" here in Phoenix-Land: This year's Miracle on Tremont Street was nothing short of a wicked pissah powerhouse bill. The grand old Orpheum creaked under the weight of a sold-out audience, and a pronounced feistiness prevailed (the girl behind me in the beer line managed to reverse my suspender straps without me even noticing).

VIEW: More photos of Passion Pit, Phoenix and Spoon at WFNX's Miracle on Tremont Street

This jolly vibe was especially evident when Passion Pit took the stage, prompting a surge of screamy adulation from the rows. It's nice to see the Pit boys finishing up this banner year with a performance on Boston's most venerable "you've made it" stage –even if their set did as much to highlight what they haven't yet achieved as what they have.

By now, the crowd-pleasing capabilities of Passion Pit are a given; their debut, Manners (Frenchkiss), was the perfect riposte to early-bird haters who doubted if Michael Angelakos could out-"Sleepyhead" himself with a solid full-length. Accepted wisdom now is that he did just that, but the fire of those songs is not easy to carry to the stage. Like most acquired tastes, Angelakos's falsetto is most easily accepted in small doses (which is why PP have been the heroes of mixtapes everywhere since Manners dropped). But over the course of a full set, it can prove as much of a struggle for listeners as it seems to be for Angelakos himself.

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