Glass Animals Pop Up Live In Seattle

Glass Animals w/ Manatee Commune
The Paramount, Seattle, WA
10.11.16

Human beings don’t belong in boxes, and Glass Animals don’t either, which the UK foursome proved during their live set at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre. Having just released their sophomore album How to Be a Human Being to critical acclaim, the group’s genre-defying music makes for a great live show.

Local artist Manatee Commune – née Grant Eadie – opened the show with his instrumental, electronic jams. He got the crowd dancing to uptempo tracks while he played guitar, violin, drums, and a drum machine in front of a video projection. His energy was great, and he kept dancing behind his setup, the young-ish crowd digging it, cheering along during instrumental breaks. Local hip hop artist Sol also joined him on stage for a surprise final track, coming into the barricaded area at the front to get the crowd going even more.

When Glass Animals came out, it was against a Tetris-block background, with cacti and a pineapple, and a watermelon kick drum cover, not to mention a giant disco ball hovering above the stage. The group is known for showing off their strange, and this show was no exception.

Lead vocalist Dave Bayley charmed the sold out crowd while dancing around the stage, and coming down to the edge of the crowd during the hits. Every time he stepped away from the mic stand to dance, the crowd went nuts. Keyboardist/guitarist Drew MacFarlane liked to come close to him and jam together, sometimes coming to the front of the stage as well.

The set was nicely split between new material and older tracks from their 2014 debut Zaba, and both the band and crowd seemed really into it, playfully jamming and having a good time. Bayley would drop to his knees and extend his arms outwards like a bird, then pop up without missing a beat. The giant disco ball lit up for end of last song and remained lit until the band came back for encore.

At that point, Bayley spent the entire first encore song at the edge of barrier singing while audience dances along, the crowd on their feet all the way up the balcony during the last song, disco ball in effect!

Glass Animals Set List
Life Itself
Youth
Black Mambo
Hazey
S02E03
Poplar Street
Other Side of Paradise
Gooey
Take A Slice
Toes
Cocoa Hooves
Cand Shuga
Pools
Love Lockdown
Pork Soda