I’ve had a lot of “current favorite” bands in my life, but they have rarely coincided with times I’m actively going to shows and when those bands are actively playing. I got to see Elliott Smith in 2001 and Joanna Newsom in 2010 and would have classified each as my favorite artist at those times, but that’s kind of it. I was lucky to add a third to this list when I got to see STRFKR last weekend.
These synthpop masters dominated my 2018 Spotify wrapped summary (which I am annoyed to find is no longer available), and when I saw they were touring Florida, I knew I had to make it out to a show. Unfortunately, they did not book a night in Tallahassee, which meant that Sara and I were going to need to travel. We opted for Gainesville, which was closest at only a two-hour drive. We arranged for our son to have his first sleepover with some friends (fun!) and made the St. Patrick’s Day trek.
The Slow Buildup
We arrived at the High Dive at about 7:30, ninety minutes before the show. We were hungry but didn’t want to risk the venue crowding too early, so we opted to get some tacos from a stand right in front of the venue. They were good, but we misplayed by only getting two rather than three each. We walked briefly around the streets of Gainesville looking for something fun and quick to do, maybe some kind of sweet shop, but it was all bars. We felt compelled to quickly make it back to the venue.
It’s a good thing we did, as at 8:10 it was already started to fill in toward the stage. We each used the restroom one last time and then posted up right against the stage by 8:15, securing the premium spot for concert watching. Fearing both losing our spots and our bladders betraying us, we forewent drinks of any kind. This was another good call, as this sold-out show was absolutely packed in the 400-capacity venue. It would have been hard to leave our spots and impossible to get back – we were there for the evening.
The opener emerged at 9:00 on the dot. Daniel T did a nice DJ set that went way too long. I genuinely enjoyed the first 20 minutes, but then I kept thinking, “Okay, it must be a 25-minute set.” “…30-minute set…” “…40-minute set…” And so forth, until 53 excruciating minutes had passed. Nothing against Daniel T, who seemed like a nice guy, but it was just too long. It took another 20 minutes to break down his gear and get STRFKR’s sound check finalized. Packed in close to the stage with people trying to push by, drinkless, annoyed to be standing in one spot now for two straight hours, I felt less excited than when the opener came out, which I think is the opposite of the point.
It’s On
I forgot all about that once STRFKR took the stage. They eked a little more anticipation from the crowd with some ambient noise and Alan Watts lecture samples before launching into “Tape Machine“, one of their best songs. I filmed this one in full:
STRFKR has a remarkably intricate light show, synced up completely with the absolutely on-point music. It wasn’t just lights, either – confetti cannons at either end of the stage, reloaded multiple times throughout the night, and a constantly running smoke machine added to the great, party-like atmosphere. Add to this our stellar spots and the exuberant crowd, and we could tell it was going to be a crazy evening.
Launching next into “Satellite“, I wondered if they were going to play straight through 2016’s Being No One, Going Nowhere, but I was quickly disabused of this notion when they moved into Miracle Mile‘s “Kahlil Gibran” followed by Reptilians‘s “Mystery Cloud“. “Malmo” came next, my top song on Spotify of 2018 and the song that really got me into the band in the first place.
It was fun watching the group members’ different performance styles: frontman’s Josh Hodges detached aloofness contrasted nicely with bass player’s Shawn Glassford’s highly energetic, often-grinning charm, while drummer Keil Corcoran backed up all the vocals, eyes closed, rhythmically in tune and just totally absorbed by the music. (As I understand it, the fourth spot is held down by a rotation of various musicians at different times. I believe the guitarist/synth player in the slot at this show was named Adrian, but I haven’t been able to confirm that. I’ll refer to him as Adrian until I learn differently.)
Following was a quintet of songs from the group’s 2008 self-titled debut – “Isabella of Castile” (featuring a blazing guitar lead by Adrian), “Hard Smart Beta“, “Pop Song“, “Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second“, and “U Ba Khin” – and then a mix of some really good songs from the last two albums: “Atlantis“, “Open Your Eyes“, and “Something Ain’t Right“.
With each member apt to go all out in some amazing drag, I was only slightly disappointed that they kept their look mellow this evening. Josh sported a cool purple wig, and all four members wore these amazing futuristic tunic things that were pretty hilarious but also totally suitable for the style of show. Each had a different symbol on his chest – no telling if they’re just cool or if they have some deeper meaning.
“Being No One, Going Nowhere” came next, a slower song leading to a low energy point of the evening, perhaps built in as a much-needed rest. There wasn’t so much dancing at this part as there was deep introspection about ourselves and our places in the universe.
Picking up the pace with “Jupiter“, we had the only instrument switch of the night, with Josh handling the bass synth and Shawn handling lead. STRFKR is made up all multi-instrumentalists and they sometimes do more changing up roles than this. This would have been fun to see more of, but it’s not like I’m not complaining about the guys sticking to only playing two or three things each rather than a little bit of everything.
STRFKR was periodically joined onstage by a trio of astronauts who added to the fun: dancing, grinding on each other, blasting and refilling both stationary and handheld confetti cannons, wearing cool light suits, and crowd surfing. (They also had to do some security as some idiot kids by us kept trying to get up on the stage to crowd surf themselves.) It was a fun addition to the stage show but got a little repetitive as they kept returning to the same tricks and blocked the band from view at times.
Closing out strong with “Bury Us Alive“, “Medicine“, “Millions“, and “Girls Just Want to Have Fun“, they kept up the energy, pushing everyone to dance hard for just a few more songs.
STRFKR kept the crowd banter light throughout the evening, but at some point toward the end, they thanked us for coming and remarked on it being their longest tour of Florida ever. I took the opportunity to yell, “Come to Tallahassee!” and was gratified to hear a few laughs of delight and affirmations of “yeah, come to Tallahassee!” scattered around me. I like to think they’ll remember that and book at The Moon next time.
Declaring “While I’m Alive” as the last song, the crowd tested STRFKR on their resolve as they walked off. Thankfully, they caved and quickly returned for a two-song encore consisting of “Maps” and “Leave It All Behind“. With a few more waves and handing off of setlists, STRFKR was out.
I thought for sure they were leading up to “Never Ever” as the final song and was a little shocked that they left it on the table. But when every song is this great, of course some won’t be played. Ultimately, this is the only part of the evening that didn’t fit my expectations of how great this show would be. That’s largely thanks to YouTube and the ability to watch recorded live shows, not to mention STRFKR’s amazing reputation as a live band. But it’s nice that everything was confirmed for me in person.
This show was nuts. I can’t wait to see them again, and maybe I’ll get to catch “Never Ever” then.