Recap: Silversun Pickups, Cage the Elephant at the Webster - Oct. 20, 2009

Silversun Pickups made their Hartford debut at the Webster on Oct. 20. (Credit: Brian Lee/Special to Metromix)

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It was a Tuesday night in Hartford, and tickets to see Silversun Pickups—an indie rock band making its first appearance in the city—were pushing 30 bucks. Despite the headliner's recent success on rock radio, this had the makings of a less-than-inspiring evening at the Webster, but enthusiastic fans of SSP and their pair of openers weren't having it. The room filled up nicely, and the energy was through the roof.

Check out photos of Silversun Pickups, Cage the Elephant and An Horse at the Webster Theater.

Australian girl-guy duo An Horse kicked things off with a 40-minute set of straight-ahead indie pop songs, concentrating on material from their debut full-length, "Rearrange Beds." It's easy to see why the pair has been picked to open tours for Tegan and Sara and Death Cab for Cutie; though the young band's stage presence is a bit underwhelming at this stage, songs like "Camp Out" and "Postcards" are fun, clever efforts that show a great deal of promise.

If the stage seemed a bit big for the openers, it wasn't big enough to contain Cage the Elephant. The Kentucky band ruled the room from the get-go, with lead singer Matt Shultz pogoing around the stage, headbanging, descending to mingle among fans at the barricade and crowd surfing with abandon.

The punky, funky rock band–the only act on the bill with a major-label deal–has the chops to back up its boundless energy, and new material played well alongside songs from their well-received self-titled debut. Fully expect these guys to be the headliner the next time they come through town.

It's always dangerous to choose an opener as dynamic as Cage the Elephant, but Silversun Pickups was hardly a downer in the headlining slot. Opening with the slow build of "Growing Old is Getting Old," the Los Angeles band unleashed a dense, cerebral sound that was simultaneously invigorating and uplifting. The crowd ate up "Well Thought Out Twinkles" early in the set, but predictably really went nuts with the main-set-closing one-two punch of the Pickups' biggest hits: "Panic Switch" and "Lazy Eye." SSP have drawn constant comparisons to Smashing Pumpkins for a laundry list of reasons, and after seeing them live one thing is clear: they're surely an arena-rock headliner in waiting.

The Webster brings in another big-name indie act when Metric plays the main stage on Nov. 18.