Advertisement

In Photos: Car Seat Headrest Rocks Out

{shortcode-e2804f40d4e766c913b8c7d71417ad83fbebc5a7}

While on their “The Scholars” tour, indie-rock darling Car Seat Headrest made a stop at Boston’s MGM Music Hall at Fenway on Sep. 27.

{shortcode-7624d2617391deb6a3959248c4c6122dd53ef921}

Before the show, audience members crowded the barricades, hoping for a chance to get close to Car Seat Headrest, carrying signs, flags, and pushies of a character from the band’s 2016 album “Twin Fantasy (Mirror to Mirror).”

{shortcode-20d02706d7958fe8e7ef258902af0545400cf67c}

Advertisement

After a short public service announcement, the band kicked off their set with “CCF (I'm Gonna Stay With You).”

{shortcode-2e2b986134ad21637d78b79551cc1193bccba4bd}

The band played with heavily saturated colors in their lighting — a choice that played well with the rock-opera narrative of their latest album, “The Scholars,” which accounted for most of the setlist.

{shortcode-faa277f66176ff06688294d39e773aa29bcbabdf}

Aside from the band — leader Will Toledo, guitarist Ethan Ives, drummer Andrew Katz, bassist Seth Dalby, and Ben Roth on synth — only large draped screen cloths onto which characters from the band’s latest album were projected took up the stage.

{shortcode-8a1f9167443c9096a8065c07d82d80bd57448317}

Throughout the performance, the crowd jumped along to the punchy guitar riffs, with some crowd-surfing to the front of the audience.

{shortcode-b9d7263ae6718661a4dc589e3d3ffb0938a75f0e}

Ives played with persistent intensity, moving freely around the stage as the music demanded.

{shortcode-7f206a8de5ed278f08a29a27405c263b34649d53}

Toledo, who was diagnosed with histamine intolerance following a bout with Covid-19, sang through a mask. Yet at no point was his performance dampened, still expressing the raw emotion captured in the lyrics.

{shortcode-5dc2ccc26833db72b307cfabd926beaf52b40d7a}

Throughout the set, the band lit Toledo with a single spotlight from behind, as if he were an angelic figure amidst the darkness of the rest of the stage.

{shortcode-9df5041a151c2f442d4c8c45c29429dec6f5bc5b}

Ives and Toledo traded verses throughout the night, playing their voices and their guitars off one another.

{shortcode-e35324c968e97c70bc8991879ffc1fab1542753c}

At some moments in the set, the sonic intensity exploded — paired with performances and light design to match. It was a fitting performance for the band, packed with emotion, but with enough space to breathe and take it all in.

Tags

Advertisement