Glass Animals performing at BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival (photo by Ellen Qbertplaya)

 

This past Tuesday, British indie pop band Glass Animals headlined the Lena Horne Bandshell in Prospect Park for a sold-out show benefiting the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival series that happens every summer (except for last year, because, well, you know why). 

 

Glass Animals is comprised of lead singer Dave Bayley, with bandmates Drew MacFarlane (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Edmund Irwin-Singer (bass, keyboards, backing vocals), and Joe Seaward (drums, percussion). They released their third album, Dreamland, just over a year ago, so by now, the audience was fully familiar with all the tracks and sang along at every opportunity. I totally loved the energy of Bayley, or Wavey Davey as he’s affectionately known, as he sang and bounced around the stage non-stop, pausing ever so slightly to occasionally pick up a guitar.

 

With the backdrop made to look like an old CRT computer monitor that displayed different graphics for each song, and various set pieces like neon signs, palm trees and even a diving board, at times I felt like I was watching a retro videogame of sorts with a really danceable, upbeat soundtrack. It was perhaps the most elaborate stage set up I’ve seen in a while, which was quite a treat for me to photograph.

 

While Glass Animals played a lot of songs from the latest LP, including the hugely popular closer “Heat Waves,” over half the setlist drew from older material. I have to admit I found myself shaking my butt during the second song “Life Itself” as I took photos in the pit. I imagine having such an involved lighting design and set means that there are a lot of cues that the crew has to work with, so there can’t really be much flexibility in what the band plays. The Brooklyn show was only the third stop of this tour, but it looks like there hasn’t been any departure from the setlist of songs played every night. I don’t think the fans really care about that sort of thing, however, as it looked like everyone had a good time and even continued the party afterwards as people departed the park. That must have thrilled the residents of Park Slope (haha). Even Wavey Davey declared it his favorite show ever.

 

Opening the show was artist binki, who appeared solo and rapped over pre-recorded tracks. He recently released an EP, Motor Function, via FADER. He also dropped some magic tricks in between songs.

Scroll down for pics of the show (photos by Ellen Qbertplaya).

 

BINKI

 

 

GLASS ANIMALS