Twin Shadow
The Glass House
6/28/13
Since George Lewis, Jr. released his sophomore album, Confess, under the moniker Twin Shadow last summer, he's been on the road virtually nonstop. On Friday night, the Los Angeleno by way of the Dominican Republic celebrated one of the final stops on his “True Story” tour at Pomona's Glass House.
Though Twin Shadow is technically a solo project, he brought along a full band during this tour, allowing him to focus on guitar and vocals while a bassist/keyboardist, synth player and drummer accompanied him. As a quartet, the band was able to pump more life and depth into the songs that comprise both of Lewis, Jr.'s albums.
After making the audience wait an extra half hour after the scheduled set time, Lewis, Jr. sauntered onstage in tattered jeans and an open trench coat with no shirt underneath (the rest of the band followed suit, but with garments under their winter wear), and the majority of the girls (and guys) screamed in delight, forgiving him for making them wait. They formally reprieved his tardiness as soon as he struck the first note of “Golden Light,” the opening track off Confess. The crowd began to sing along to every word, allowing the opportunity for Lewis, Jr. to ask his fans to sing the last chorus for him, and as he swung his microphone, stand and all, out toward the crowd, “Some people say you're the golden light,” echoed throughout the intimate venue.
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Scrapping traditional show etiquette, the charismatic musician played his hit single, “Five Seconds,” three songs into his set. Without the constraints of playing keys, he was able to run around the stage, slashing his guitar and even shredding a solo on the edge of the stage. Live, these songs had more of a standard rock vibe than their '80s synth pop recorded counterparts, which seemed to have confused the crowd a bit. As the band played a brand new song – a slow jam with a delightful, chirping synth riff – the audience swayed along in approval, and when they played “Tyrant Destroyed,” the dark, slower album opener off 2010's Forget, a group of guys in the middle of the floor bounced around. But the oddest fan reaction was one brave dumb soul attempting to crowd surf during “Patient.” (Really, who crowd surfs to Twin Shadow?) Let's just say it didn't end well.
Lewis, Jr. interacted more and more with the audience as the set progressed. “This is the 'True Story' tour, so every night on tour I've been telling a story about my life and have been trying to tell stories about the city that I'm in,” he explained. “I don't know much about Pomona, but I did buy my 1978 Datsun 280z in this city…” As the crowd cheered (though probably unsure what this car even looked like), he told the story of finding this “perfect” car on Craiglist that ended up having doors that either stuck closed or open. “I still have it though,” he exclaimed proudly, “and I fixed the doors. So thank you, Pomona, for my fucked up car!”
See Also: Twin Shadow's George Lewis Jr. Wears His Heart on His Sleeve
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For an encore, Twin Shadow treated his fans to a stripped down version of “The One,” that consisted of just him and his guitar, and when it was time to say goodbye, nobody wanted to, including him.
Critical Bias: It was interesting to hear the songs played by a full band. They almost sounded like completely different songs, but in an interesting way.
The Crowd: Trendy, hip, twenty-somethings.
Overheard In The Crowd: “That drummer kills!” (It's true, he did.)
Random Notebook Dump: Lewis, Jr. was sporting a Twin Shadow baseball cap at the beginning of the set. Is it just me, or is that tacky?
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