Two Takes: Big Gigantic Gives Stellar Performance at Upstate Concert Hall

Some shows are too big for just one review. For Big Gigantic, we sent UpstateLIVE staff photographers Chris De Cotis and Tom Miller to Upstate Concert Hall to capture the show. Here are their takes and photos.

Review and photos by Tom Miller:

Big Gigantic is the dynamic duo of Dominic Lalli (saxophone) and Jeremy Salken (drums). The pair brought their unique style of improvisational, livetronica music to the Upstate Concert Hall on February 12th. The high-energy performance, amazing music, and mind-blowing light show made for a memorable evening. An eclectic blend of tunes from all four of the bands albums; Wide Awake (2009), Fire It Up (2009), A Place Behind the Moon (2010), and Nocturnal (2012) had the crowd jumping and dancing at every beat.

Los Angeles DJ, Kill Paris and Chicago-based DJ Manic Focus opened the show.

Review and photos by Christopher De Cotis

On Tuesday, February 12th, Big Gigantic brought their 2013 Winter Tour to Upstate Concert Hall in Clifton Park, NY. Having just seen them a month ago on Jam Cruise, I knew as soon as the show was announced that I was going to be there.  I’ve been a big fan of the duo after seeing them for the first time at the 2010 Nateva Festival in Oxford, Maine.  As I saw coverage of the first shows of this tour, I began to wonder what it was going to look like at Upstate Concert Hall.

The stage was covered with a large riser and a row of light panels from the band’s current light rig.  Drummer Jeremy Salken’s drum kit was on the right side of the stage and a table was set up on the left for the DJ equipment and laptop computers used by Manic Focus, Kill Paris and saxophonist Dominic Lalli.  The two opening sets sounded good and there was a short break before Big Gigantic took the stage.  The crowd had continued to grow throughout Kill Paris’ set and most people I asked were excited to see the band for the first time.  Their set was about an hour long and after the band left the stage the cheering crowd called them right back out for an encore and they played for almost twenty more minutes.

Blind Owl Band at Winter Carnival, The Waterhole, Saranac Lake on February 9th – Full show video

Blind Owl Band played The Waterhole in Saranac Lake on February 9th as part of Winter Carnival 2013. This was one of the free shows, a post-parade party in the upstairs music lounge, and it was packed shoulder to shoulder. Everybody was jamming to the music, whether it was for the first or 100th time. The Blind Owl Band are local to Saranac Lake and play all over the state, as well as Vermont and several other locations. The band consists of Eric (mandolin), James (banjo), Arthur (guitar) and Christian (bass), and although they do not consider themselves a bluegrass band, they do play an eclectic mix of all music from all the sounds in their heads. While jamming, they brought out several guests to play with them,  such as members of Lucid, local fiddler Addison Bigford and many others. The most notable song of the night was a cover of Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer”

Video by Ryan Stanley

Passion Pit and Matt & Kim bring music back to the RPI Houston Field House

It’s been over two years since music filled the historic RPI Houston Field House. That all changed in a big way when Passion Pit and Matt & Kim partied with several thousand of their closest fans. We can only hope this will be the first of many great concerts returning to RPI.

Things kicked off with the indie-pop duo of Matt (Johnson) and Kim (Schifino). The super energetic couple ripped through many of their hit singles including “Now” and “Let’s Go” off their latest album, Lightning.  Throughout their performance, Schifino climbed her drums like a child on a playground jungle gym (and even crowd surfed at one point!) while Johnson supplied a playful and upbeat keyboard accompaniment to balance out the powerful bass. Both Schifino and Johnson regularly saluted the crowd, thanking them and expressing how excited they were to be playing the Capital Region again.

Passion Pit continued the evening’s celebration. The five-member group from Cambridge, Massachusetts consists of Michael Angelakos (lead vocals, keyboards), Ian Hultquist (keyboards, guitar), Xander Singh (synthesizer), Jeff Apruzzese (bass, synthesizer bass), and Nate Donmoyer (drums). The band performed a well-balanced mix of hits including “Sleepyhead” from their first album Manners and “Carried Away” from their recent sophomore album Gossamer. Andelakos often engaged the accommodating crowd, coaxing them to sing along. The pinnacle of the evening was a powerful and moving rendition of the hit single “Take a Walk”.

As expected, this evening was more than just a concert, it was a revival. It was the revival of music at the RPI Houston Field House.