The first time I saw Minus the Bear was 2004, shortly after they released their They Make Beer Commercials Like This EP. The show featured headliners, Q and Not U but Minus the Bear was the real story that night. That was when my love affair with the band first started. But like any love affair, it has had its up and downs. The last time I saw Minus the Bear was 2008 in Boston. The band played a lifeless set filled with mostly songs from Planet of Ice. The only time they broke out old favorites was to do acoustic renditions of a few tracks. The show was a disappointment to say the least.
Coming into Friday night’s show at the Webster, I felt some trepidation. With a new album, OMNI on the horizon, the danger was there for Minus the Bear to play a set completely comprised of new album tracks. As most concert goers know, when a band plays only new tracks it usually puts a damper on the mood pretty quickly. Luckily Minus the Bear did not do that. Instead, the band turned the sweltering hot venue into sweaty indie rock dance party. The band broke out classic tracks like “Get Me Naked 2: Electric Boogaloo”, “Fine + 2 pts”, “Women We Haven’t Met Yet”, and “Burying Luck”. In between they mixed a sprinkling of new songs which seemed to be much more high energy than the fare on Planet of Ice. The set concluded with “Pachuca Sunrise” followed by new song “Dayglow Vista Rd.”
Closing with a new song is a sure fire way to anger the crowd. Unsurprisingly, the band came out for an encore. The encore consisted of the ever dancable “The Fix”, followed by “Into the Mirror” which was a single released last year, and closing the show with “Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse”. The cross-section of the catalog the band visited was perfect. Judging by the crowds’ reaction while filing out, I was not the only one who felt so.