Fitz & The Tantrums live at The Paramount in Huntington – Review & Footage

A frequent concertgoer knows that there are two types of concerts: the enjoyable ones and the mind-blowing ones. Usually you can predict which you’re in for when you purchase a ticket. But every once in a while, the former can become the latter. That’s what happened last night.

I arrived at the Paramount in time to catch the last few songs of the first opening act, Lovelife. The lead singer of the band said that they were very, very new to the concert scene, and I was very impressed by how together the band sounded and how comfortably the lead singer interacted with the audience. The second opening act was a guy named Robert DeLong. The first minute of his performance was incredibly bizarre, but every second after that had me beyond excited. He had great lyrics, a great singing voice, he was a proficient instrumentalist, and a good producer too. But the icing on the cake was his ingenuity. DeLong controlled the dub step breakdown of his song with a joystick controller. He would add pitch-bending by waving a WiiMote. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an artist use such original instruments in my life. He was hands down the best opening act I’ve ever witnessed.

Finally, Fitz & The Tantrums arrived onstage. I’d consider myself a casual fan of their music, so I wasn’t sure exactly how much I’d enjoy their show. They started with one of my favorite songs, “Don’t Gotta Work It Out.” From the first song, I realized this was going to be a high energy performance. Then they proceeded to put on one of the most fun shows I’ve ever seen. They were constantly interacting with the audience, telling us how much it meant that we were excited. They encouraged people to dance (I was happy to listen), and even called out audience members for looking bored. They played some new material they’d been working on, and even covered The Raconteur’s “Steady As She Goes.” They closed their main set with the rousing “News 4 U.” Then they came out and did a two-song encore, starting with a floor-shaking cover of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” and ending with a high-energy rendition of their most famous song, “MoneyGrabber.” All in all, this was one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen, and I highly recommend checking them out if you have the chance. Check out the live footage below:

“Don’t Gotta Work It Out”

“She’s Out Of My League (NEW SONG!!)”

“Steady As She Goes (Raconteurs Cover)”

Thanks to @cuzimcherokee for the footage

Last updated by Jason Sloan at September 23, 2012.