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Tame Impala – Roseland Theater – May 27th Review

Written by Madison on May 29, 2015

On wednesday night, Australian psychedelic rockers Tame Impala, including birthday boy and keyboardist Jay Watson, entertained a sold out crowd full teens and college students–many of which were clad in tie-dye and headbands at the Roseland Theater following their mainstage Sasquatch performance two days before. Fronted by Kevin Parker, a man with the voice of John Lennon and sole writing and recording credit, the band returned to Portland for the first time in almost two years–proving that they are one of the biggest bands on the current alternative music scene.

The opener of the night, Kuroma, was not a surprising choice. They took to the stage with similar outfits and psychedelic sounds as Tame Impala and of course, loads of long hair. Kuroma had joined Tame Impala on this US tour the day before after touring with Tennis and will continue as the opener until June 6th. The origin of the band’s psychedelic sound comes from the band’s current lineup consisting of bandleader Hank Sullivant, James Richardson, and Will Berman all of MGMT in addition to Simon O’Connor. Songs off of their third album titled Kuromarama and produced by MGMT’s Ben Goldwasser made up much of the band’s setlist before Tame Impala’s crew– sporting white lab coats– took to the stage to prepare for the rest for the night.

Since their last visit to PDX, Tame Impala has been gearing up for the June 17th release of their third album titled Currents. With four official singles so far, acclaim for the album has been positive. Rolling Stone calls “‘Cause I’m A Man” “infectious” and eight-minute long “Let It Happen” “epic.” Along with these new releases, Tame Impala’s setlist featured some of the band’s earlier hits off of their first two LPs Innerspeaker, released in 2010, and Lonerism, one of Pitchfork’s best albums of 2012 and a Grammy Best Alternative Music Album nominee. While all songs brought on a uniform crowd of swaying and head-nodding to a wave of effects pedals and impressive light projections, hits like “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” and “Elephant,” both off of Lonerism, stood out as a result of pure enthusiasm and attention from the attendees. While die hard fans of Tame Impala were present in the crowd– geeking out over Parker’s equipment and singing along to less popular tracks, most of the crowd remained relaxed and chattering during songs like “Why Won’t They Talk to Me?” and “Oscilly”. Despite the occasional lack of attention to the band’s tight performance, the show lived up to the band’s current hype. Everything from Parker’s Lennon-esque vocals to the alien sounds produced by various pedals to the bright and drowning lights supported the band’s brand. As the they continue to stick with this look and sound, previewed by the singles of Currents, it is likely that Tame Impala will never fail to bring in a crowd of die hard fans and others along for the ride.