Article and Photos by: Jason Robey

Phoenix, AZ — The Crescent Ballroom was a sea of dancing bodies when Lake Street Dive kicked off their tour in front of a sold-out crowd on Monday night. The band had just released their new album, Side Pony, three days earlier, and yet a large portion of the crowd already knew many of the songs well enough to sing along.

The audience went wild as the quartet took the stage and struck the opening notes of “Hell Yeah,” the first of a 20-song set of mostly upbeat millennial-indie-rock meets sixties-motown tunes. Before the night ended, they would play all but one song from the new album, as well as several fan favorites from 2014’s Bad Self Portraits, and a pair of songs from their 2011 self-titled debut album.

By placing drummer Mike Calabrese to the far right side of the stage, facing the band, instead of the crowd, and keeping stage clutter to a minimum, there was plenty of room for vocalist Rachael Price to dance all over the stage. Bridget Kearney had plenty of chances to show off her impressive skills on her stand-up bass, and guitarist / trumpet player Mike Olson had no shortage of funky and catchy riffs on either instrument.

Price took time to talk to the crowd after nearly every song, mentioning more than once that this was the first time they had played most of these songs in front of people. This was also the first time the band, which has been touring for nearly 10 years, has played in Arizona. The audience received Lake Street Dive and their songs, both old and new, very well. The climax of the evening came late in the set with the title track from Bad Self Portraits, a mid-tempo song that showcased Price’s impressive voice, followed by “Seventeen,” an energetic tune that had the venue singing and clapping along on every chorus.

Following the last song on their 90-minute set list, the band stepped off-stage long enough for the addition of a single mic, placed carefully center stage. The four members of the stage surrounded the mic and began a beautiful mostly-acapella version of their single, “What I’m Doing Here.”

The evening started with a short set by The Suffers, a nine-piece  band from Houston, who describes themselves as “Gulf Coast Soul.” The house was already packed when they stepped on stage, and nobody in the room could stand still as the band played tight 70s funk inspired grooves and vocalist Kam Franklin worked the mic with her bigger-than-life voice. Catch them on tour in the U.S. with Lake Street Dive through the end of March.

Setlist:

Hell Yeah 

I Don’t Care About You

You Go Down Smooth

Side Pony

Close To Me

Clear a Space

Better Than

Stop Your Crying

Saving All My Sinning

God Awful Things

How Good It Feels

Don’t Make Me Hold Your Hand

Elijah

Mistakes

Walking on Broken Glass

Bad Self Portraits

Seventeen

So Long

Spectacular Failure

Call Off Your Dogs

What I’m Doing Here (encore)