June 11, 2013: Of Monsters and Men

Concert Details:

Bands: Of Monsters and Men, Haim
Location: Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD

1. Dirty Paws
2. From Finner
3. Slow and Steady
4. Mountain Sound
5. Your Bones
6. Love Love Love
7. King and Lionheart
8. Beneath My Bed
9. Lakehouse
10. Little Talks
11. Six Weeks

Encore:

   12. Numb Bears

   13. Skeletons (Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover)

   14. Yellow Light

Of Monsters and Men is an Icelandic based folk band based who sings in English and whose popularity has grown in the same vain with The Lumineers and Mumford and Sons, although Of Monsters and Men is not as popular, but they are supremely more talented and at least compared with The Lumineers are much better live band.  I think a large part of what makes them the better band is Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, the female singer.  My love for them might be partly biased by her, as I am a huge fan of the dynamic of dueling male and female singers, but the harmony of the voices of the her and the other lead singer, Ragnar Þórhallsson, is nothing short of perfect.

The band opened quietly with the opening of Dirty Paws behind a screen (although I was to the side so I could see behind it) and as the song peaked about a minute in, the screen dropped and the crowd roared.

They put on a dynamic set, running through their only album so far and throwing in a Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover, possibly to extend their set.  There are two problems with a band this new playing a venue this big as the headliner: first, they may not have enough songs to really be able to run through a long enough show to sustain, and second they may not be ready to be able to handle a crowd this big.  Of Monsters and Men were able to deal with both of their problems by putting on a thoroughly dynamic and excitable show.

 Never once did the show let up and their dynamically energetic playing was able to carry them through the whole show and leave us wishing they had more songs to play.

At the end of the show the band released confetti and then a rain of foam (seen below) ending the show in a hail of joy and sending us on the way in a wonderful haze.  They are a band that I intend to see again if I get the chance, and I think they are the type of band that will hopefully grow and as they add more and more music to their arsenal hopefully they will add more and more to their show.