Neon Indian, CMJ Music Marathon Webster Hall
Published
Neon Indian plays a danceable, funky electro-pop – at times it feels like Prince re-invented in 2015, with lead singer/songwriter/composer Alan Palomo singing in a near falsetto while gyrating on stage, in this case dressed in a white-on-white ensemble.
Tonight they were not only celebrating the release of Neon Indian’s new album, 'Vega Intl. Night School', but the start of their tour using some new cutting edge technology that projects pixilated graphic images of the band members on the massive screen behind the stage. The technology was impressive, but I think the crowd was more interested in the music…
The band was scheduled to go on at 10 PM but was a bit delayed – once they took the stage, the crowd responded positively to one of the premier acts of this year’s CMJ Music Marathon. Neon Indian first played the CMJ Music Marathon back in 2011, but whereas CMJ generally exposes upcoming bands to a music-hungry New York City audience, Neon Indian was happy to return to a festival that first helped them gain exposure…
And they didn’t disappoint. Palomo acknowledged that although he lives and loves New York City, it’s the first time they’ve played there since 2012. Not surprisingly, they played some tracks off their new album (always the duty of a band promoting their latest), but closed the set with their hit “Polish Girl” (which happens to be my favorite Neon Indian track). Hopefully they won’t make us wait that long again to play NYC.
Key Tracks: “The Glitzy Hive”; “Slumlord”; “Polish Girl”
