COVERAGE BY: COLIN ELDRIDGE

Closing in on the end of summer in Boston, The Shins headlining at House of Blues is an easy bill to sell out. Even with Lansdowne flooded with Sox fans from the rain delay, and a mile long line in the rain to get through the *cough*excessive*cough* security, it did not stop the masses from coming out and filling every inch of floor, seat, railing, bar countertop and any other conceivable vantage point in the three story venue. The audience had ample time to become acquainted with the psychedelic stage setup of fake flowers adorning The Shin’s gear all in front of a very large and trippy Heartworms-skull banner, during the time that opener Tennis left the stage and The Shins casually made their way out.

The Shins need no real introduction having been at the fore front of the indie scene for the better part of 2 decades, however this was a particularly exciting show for frontman James Mercer supporting The Shins new self-produced record “Heartworms”. Mercer backed by a few new faces such as Broken Bells Jon Sortland on drums, they managed no dis-service to any of the songs performed that night no matter new or old, bringing in a pleasant spattering of instrumentation through out the night.

Kicking the show off with the first track from their debut album “Caring is Creepy” from 2001’s “Oh, Inverted World” really set the tone for the night and ignited the room with nostalgia. Despite being on a supporting run of their latest release and playing half of Heartworms, they managed to throw in a few from each of their five full lengths ever so slightly favoring 2003’s Chutes Too Narrow second to Heartworms. On top of all that, spanning an 18 song setlist they even somehow managed to throw in bits of Aerosmith and Tom Petty into a couple of their songs. By the time they came back for their encore they basically let the crowd drive the rest of their show with their sing alongs taking complete control until building through Sleeping Lessons from 2007’s Wincing The Night Away into a final crescendo that brought a satisfying sense of closure to the experience everyone in the building had expected to receive.

Setlist:

Caring Is Creepy

Australia

Name for You

Mine’s Not A High Horse

Girl Inform Me

Gone for Good

Mildenhall

Saint Simon

Kissing the Lipless

So Now What

Paiting a Hole