OPENERS AMPLIFY THE GLITCH MOB’S EXCELLENCE

Graphic by: Matana McIntire and Fletcher Wold

The floor was rumbling at the Roseland Theater from all the extraordinary sounds coming from The Glitch Mob’s concert last Sunday, May 20. The trio brought enough bass to be heard for miles, but I got to hear a few pleasant surprises long before the headliners of the night ever took the stage.

The first opener was a keyboardist by the name of Anomalie. My party and I arrived just in time to catch the end of his set. His real name is Nicolas Dupuis, and prior to the show I had the chance to ask a few questions about his tour experience leading up to the Portland appearance.

Anomalie’s music certainly showcases his impressive skills on the keyboard, especially when seen live, but it’s put together with a lot of both jazzy and electronic elements. “The goal was always to blend styles, but it definitely started as something that was way more electronic than jazz,” he explained.

Before performing solo in support of The Glitch Mob, Anomalie toured with a live band, first tour ever for that group, and they sold out every venue they booked. Once I watched his fingers fly across the keyboard that was tilted towards the crowd, it was easy to see how talented this guy really was.

Soon, another act named Elohim came on stage and definitely made some new fans through her performance. Her set was mystifying from the beginning, but once she threw her oversized coat to the side, things quickly blossomed into a bouncy, playful show.

Elohim’s straight black hair remained over her face and sunglasses even while she commanded the stage popping her body to the rhythm. My favorite part was that her set jumped to so many styles of music. There were sounds of indie, dance, pop, tropical house, and trap, most of which stemmed from her self-titled debut album, just newly released in April.

I could tell members of the crowd around me were all left with a good impression once Elohim had finished, and were likewise all primed and ready for Glitch Mob. The group’s crew unveiled the massive three-part set piece, called “The Blade 2.0.” Since the Mob’s last tour in 2014 they have used this futuristic contraption that was custom-built by a movie set designer to play their songs with drums and touch pads all in sync with each other, with display lighting that matches the music.

From beginning to end, The Glitch Mob awed the crowd with music from their latest album “See Without Eyes,” even bringing out Elohim to sing their collaboration, “I Could Be Anything.” After fans cheered heavily for an encore, the notion of one more song turned into a half hour of freestyles on the Blade and throwbacks to their early hits from 2010.

I asked Anomalie if he enjoyed interacting with the other artists on this tour.

“Absolutely, they’re great people. The whole team is amazing, as is Elohim’s!” he said. “The bus hangs are lots of fun and it’s been fantastic getting to know them.”

Advocate Staff