Knockdown Center thumped with blaring electronics, psychedelic visuals, and singsong vocals as Panda Bear & Sonic Boom took over on Friday night (7/21). The evening began with a bouncy DJ set by Braxe + Falcon, which closed with a remix of Daft Punk’s Panda Bear-featuring “Doin’ It Right” and the first-ever performance of their own Panda collab, “Step By Step” (check out a video below). It was Braxe + Falcon’s final show on tour with Panda Bear and Sonic Boom — the rest of the latter duo’s dates are festival sets. As the warehouse filled, Panda Bear and Sonic Boom took the stage for a colorful, highly energized set. This tour is the pair’s first run supporting their great 2022 LP Reset, and, fittingly, their main set saw them play the album in full. Reset mixes a wild array of styles, from doo wop to surf rock to freak folk and more, with balearic percussion and near-constant synth noise. Needless to say, the soundscape was busy — almost to the point of overwhelming, as feedback bounced off the synths, adding to the chaos.
It was a highly impressive show of electronic prowess, but Panda Bear and Sonic Boom never lost the thread of fun. Each of them pulled out auxiliary percussion and handheld instruments galore, including a train whistle, claves, a wood block, and more. Sonic Boom kept a slide whistle around his neck the whole show, adding to the whimsy each time he blew it. Beyond the classroom instruments, Panda Bear and Sonic Boom led the crowd in handclaps for some section of almost every song. All this happened in front of vibrant, flashing visuals with swirling colors and disintegrating motion-capture animations (Sonic Boom credited Pedro Lopan on visuals and Peter Freeman on sound at the very top of the set). So much noise came out of Panda Bear and Sonic Boom’s tiny setups: each of them only had a small rig with lots of knobs and space enough for their drinks and handheld instruments. The set swung from dreamy and fun (“Gettin’ To The Point,” “Edge Of The Edge,” “Danger) to visceral and nightmarish (“In My Body” and main set closer “Everything’s Been Leading To This”) with minimal breaks for chatter, save for Sonic Boom’s occasional “Thanks a lot.” Panda largely saved his voice for the show, as his vocals anchor the entire album. His lingering yodels impressed, in moments recalling Delores O’Riordan and old friend Vashti Bunyan. Once they finished the main set with a striking, tunneling build on “Everything’s Been Leading To This,” Sonic Boom thanked the crowd for the “nice vibe” and they exited.
A minute later Panda Bear and Sonic Boom were back, and tucked in for a five-song encore of their solo “hits,” beginning with Sonic Boom’s “Just A Little Piece Of Me,” from his 2020 solo LP All Things Being Equal. The encore ended with two of Panda Bear’s greatest: Person Pitch favorite “Bros” and devastating Meets The Grim Reaper track “Tropic Of Cancer” — a staggering end to a stunning night.
Check out photos by P Squared, fan-shot video, and the full setlist below.
Panda Bear and Sonic Boom’s Reset In Dub, reworked by Adrian Sherwood, comes out digitally on August 18 via Domino.
https://twitter.com/koybones/status/1682566212260098048?s=46&t=K1uKhOSchRLfilb3KnGvvw
BRAXE + FALCON
— Smugglers Way (@SMGLRSWAY) July 22, 2023
Step By Step ft @pandabear
Live @knockdowncenter 7/21/23
🌸🌸🌸🌸 pic.twitter.com/hwthJRWc2x
Setlist: Panda Bear & Sonic Boom @ Knockdown Center, 7/21/2023 (via)
Gettin’ to the Point
Go On
Everyday
Edge of the Edge
In My Body
Whirlpool
Danger
Livin’ in the After
Everything’s Been Leading to This
Encore:
Just a Little Piece of Me (Sonic Boom song)
The Preakness (Panda Bear song)
Things Like This (A Little Bit Deeper) (Sonic Boom song)
Bros (Panda Bear song)
Tropic of Cancer (Panda Bear song)
Panda Bear and Sonic Boom’s tour continues through the end of the summer with more festival appearances and will be back this fall to play Austin’s Levitation Festival (and hopefully more shows while here). All dates below.
Panda Bear & Sonic Boom — 2023 Tour Dates
July 28 – Brno, Czech Republic @ Pop Messe
Aug 6 – Katowice, Poland @ OFF Festival
Aug 13 – Castelbuono, Sicily, Italy @ Ypsigrock Festival
Aug 26 – Torremolinos, Spain @ Canela Party
Aug 31-Sep 3 – Tollard Royal, UK @ End of the Road
Sep 8 – San Sebastian, Spain @ Boga Boga Festibala
Oct 7 – Leiria, Portugal @ Ágora
Oct 27 – Austin, TX @ Levitation
Nov 24 – Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain @ Keroxen