Momentary bursts of excitement were the order of the evening at the Logan Square Auditorium Sunday during the round-robin set by Deerhunter, No Age, and Dan Deacon. The three bands co-headlined the bill and appeared onstage all at once, trading off songs and occasionally playing together. As all three bands had previously played sets at Lollapalooza, the constantly rotating format allowed them to lighten the burden of entertaining the audience, still thirsty after an intense weekend of music at Grant Park. Fortunately, all three bands, who share a reputation as adventurous live acts, were game for both the challenge of one-upping each other and showing their appreciation for each other's successes.
One effect of the unique setup both heightened the tension and broke it. There were often lags between songs, as bands repositioned themselves and their equipment, and the audience shifted its focus from the main stage, featuring No Age and Deerhunter, and a DJ booth on one side of the room, where Dan Deacon had set up. The bands seemed to move slowly between songs, especially a tired-looking Deerhunter, who had played only four hours earlier at Lollapalooza. The band's frontman, the usually irrepressible Bradford Cox, sat in a chair onstage draped in towels and alluded to having the flu. (What he actually said, in response to an ecstatic Dan Deacon song, was, "you cured my flu!") Randy Randall of No Age sat as well, with his arm in a sling from a recent collarbone injury. Before one song, he said, "I'm still trying to figure out how to play this one sitting down."
The revolving format complimented the short bursts of attention the audience seemed to prefer giving. At every turn for No Age, as if on cue, about twenty young people suddenly charged into a vigorous mosh pit, several crowd surfers ascended, and photographers swooped in to take pictures of the suddenly riveting scene. Then the songs ended and the tide of chaos receded.
The crowd's enthusiasm, initially divided among the various groups who had come drawn by one band, soon coalesced into buzzing excitement at every turn, as the bands upped the ante. Dan Deacon led the charge with spontaneous calls for audience participation and some intensely catchy tunes that swept the crowd away completely. He also lent some visuals to the occasion, featuring a pyramid of What Cheer? brass band members playing along, and calling for opener Ed Schrader to lead the crowd in an interpretive dance to one of his tunes.
The audience was kept constantly on their toes, as the bands seemed to be too- by the end of the night, none of them were sure when they were supposed to stop playing until they ended with a rascous No Age number featuring Dean Spunt singing atop his drum throne, Deacon manipulating guitar knobs for Randall, and Randall's guitar finally being fed to the audience (after which it was, surprisingly, returned to the stage in one piece).
Amidst the chaos and sweaty exhaustion of the Lollapalooza weekend, the three bands delivered all the excitement and intensity they've all become known for.
