Image
]
October 3, 2010

The Temper Trap / Delphic Live @ House of Blues, Boston 09/29/10

temper

Melbourne, Australia’s wonderboys The Temper Trap continued their worldbeating tour of nonstop jams this past Wednesday at Boston’s House of Blues. The band rolled into the burger and fries venue accompanied by NYC duo The Hundred in the Hands and UK Mancunians Delphic.

We love NME hype bands so much it isn’t even funny. So when we heard NME it girls Delphic were on this bill, we were super super psyched. Their debut LP Acolyte is one of our favs of the year. The band’s brand of synth-driven Manchester-driven rock dance pop came off tremendously well live, suprisingly so. The interplay/coordination between various band personnel was phenomenal, between synthesizers and drum machines, guitars and bass, frontman James Cook’s killer vox and keyboardist Rick Boardman’s equally killer backup vox. The band was really really solid, on top form. Due to their still relative obscurity in the States outside the circles of serious NME hype loving anglophiles like us, Delphic hit the stage to maybe 80% crowd indifference but left it to near total venue admiration.

The Temper Trap have crazy fans and their numbers seems to grow exponentially by the day. The band’s potential is unlimited. These guys could totally be a Coldplay-level band in 5-7 years, they’re that kind of band. This was my first time seeing the band, and wow. All I can really say is wow, I was that impressed. The band, itself, sounded massive. Singer Dougy Mandagi is totally a star. The band’s brand of thoughtful, hopeful, artful pop just straight up destroyed I think everybody in attendance. Think about the word choice in that sentence thoughtful, hopeful, artful & destroyed. The Temper Trap are that kind of band. It’s truly remarkable what these guys are doing. Highlights for me from the set were second song Fader with its mega, dare I say Hutchence-esque, hooks and killer rhythmic elements and mid-set jam Love Lost which does sort of sound like what the aforementioned Coldplay might sound like if they were still hungry.

Potential. Potential. Potential. Both The Temper Trap and Delphic have a veritable shitload of it; Delphic, likely, more so in the UK but really with The Temper Trap, its’ worldwide. They’re that kind of band.

The Temper Trap: Info / Purchase
Delphic: Info / Purchase

Reviewed by