Blind Pilot – Live @ Radio Radio

The central question is: Are Blind Pilot purchasing carbon offsets for this tour? One wonders, because on their first tour, the band (then only two members) rode bicycles from gig to gig, sometimes playing impromptu at some rather odd places. In effect, they out Bono’ed Bono. All is recounted in their blog of course. This time around the band is in a standard, maybe even a bit nicer than average, tour van. And really, just because people value being green and using human power doesn’t prohibit them from ever using an internal combustion engine.

Sure it was cold in Indianapolis, but Radio Radio must have been close to it’s 300 person capacity. How did these people hear about Blind Pilot? Did they come just because it was one of only a few shows in town that night? Does it matter? One thing is for sure, the sound guy looks like an emo version of Mario the videogame plumber.

Laura Viers and her band opened with their snooze-inducing folk. Her material has the right tone but the realization sounds a bit undercooked. They resemble a molasses-slow Indigo Girls set dominated by acoustic guitar. Her closer featured a ramped up tempo and a banjo, which got the crowd to participate by clapping.

Blind Pilot’s Jack Johnson-meets-Death Cab for Cutie mix goes down smooth on a cold night. Almost too smoothly. It’s best to have a seat for this show. It is not boring as much as mellow, but most show-goers got tired of standing up.

It’s always nice to see a band like Blind Pilot making good on a promising first album and their touring material is proof. New songs slowly ramble while old standouts like “Things I Could Not Recall” sound fresh with the addition of a full band. “Oviedo” was the most well-received, and began a three-song increase in pace towards the end of the set. This grouping of songs really showed that the band can rock out a room and still keep the mellow mood it uses so well on the album.

The band should definitely explore the new instrumentation on the new album. They have a particular blend of folk songwriting and easygoing west coast pacing, but just like on their debut and at this show, it can get repetitive. Here’s hoping they keep their mellow style with some simple instrumentation accents. And maybe on the next tour they can bring back some of their green-friendly transportation methods and still manage to get across the country.

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