Of Monsters and Men @ Arlene Schnitzer

Fresh off their recent TV performance on the famous late night show Saturday Night Live, Of Monsters and Men played their second show of their current North American Tour at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland Oregon, Monday night.

A little over a year since their global debut album release, Of Monsters and Men’s popularity has soared to great heights in a short time. Moving from selling out smaller venues across North America and the world, Of Monsters and Men now larger venues including their sold out concert at the majestic Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Opening with the first song off their album “My Head is an Animal”, Of Monsters and Men began the night playing “Dirty Paws” behind a white sheet covering the stage. Blue lights from behind created rough silhouettes on the sheet as the band walked on stage. The soft picking of the guitar and melody of vocals played the first 50 seconds of the song before the sheet fell to the ground when the song picked up momentum. Cheers from the crowd erupted at the first sight of the band and stage. Hanging above the band were white fabric balls with rope attached to them hanging to the ground. After playing three songs to the crowd sitting in their seats. Lead singer Ragnar Porhallasson encouraged the audience to stand before the start of their next song. As soon as the band broke out into their second hit single “Mountain Sounds” everyone was on their feet. Many in the front row, clapping their hands and dancing with those around them. The energetic sounds of Mountain Sounds really got the night going. Followed were other fan favorites “King and Lionheart”, unreleased song “Beneath My Bed, and a cover of “Skeletons” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Each song fitting perfectly into the live performance of the concert.

Halfway through the set the band began my personal favorite song “Lakehouse”. A song with a great build up and ending with an abundance of energy. Each chorus slowly building up more energy then the one before. At the end of the final verse the song took a short 3 second before bursting in the final outtro of the song with a loud bang of confetti bursting from both sides of the stage. As the crowd screaming in excitement the band finished the song slowing fading into the background of screaming. As the stage lights turned off the house lights turned on to illuminate the crowd still cheering from the performance of “Lakehouse”. 30 seconds go by and the noise of fans cheering begins to get louder and without warning the house lights turn off and the stage light turn on and Of Monsters and Men erupt into their number on hit song “Little Talks”. An amazing transition and feeding off the adrenaline from the confetti and finish from “Lakehouse” the entire upper level of the concert hall began to shake. Such a great build up to the most anticipate song of the night. The night continued with “Six Week”, “Sloom” and a moody and toned down remix of “Little Talks” never preformed before that night. An incredible performance by a band with incredible music to share with the world.

Ending the night, Of Monsters and Men began “Yellow Light”. My first thought was they should have played one of their more obvious popular hit songs to end the night. But the more the song played the more appropriate the song choice made sense. The song highlighted the entire nights greatest moments. A soft, slow beginning, to building up to an upbeat ending with soft melody to ending the night. A perfect end to the debut album and a perfect end to the a wonderful night in front of Portland’s fans at the magical sold out Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.

Set List:

Dirty Paws

From Finner

Slow and Steady

Mountain Sounds

Beneath My Bed

Your Bones

Skeletons

Love Love Love

King and Lionheart

Lakehouse

Little Talks