Concert review: The Airborne Toxic Event rocks with The Calder Quartet in final L.A. show of Origins Tour

The Airborne Toxic Event with The Calder Quartet
John Anson Ford Amphitheatre
Friday, April 29

I walked through one of the double doors into the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre and found myself in a little Eden: a beautiful outdoor amphitheater backed by lush foliage and hillside. I got excited immediately; in my opinion, the outdoor venue was very appropriate for Los Angeles-based band The Airborne Toxic Event’s sound: big, but intimate at the same time.

The opening act was The Calder Quartet, the string quartet that also accompanied The Airborne Toxic Event for the concert. They played with outstanding energy and rocked as much as a string quartet can rock. Unfortunately, the volume on the quartet’s microphones was a little too high, which resulted in a sound that was a bit overpowering throughout the night, though the audience didn’t appear to care in the slightest.

When the four men and one woman of The Airborne Toxic Event took the stage, the crowd erupted in cheers in anticipation of the band’s final show in Los Angeles as part of its Origins Tour.

The band’s performance warranted the full house.

Clearly having a blast on stage, the band played through a healthy mix of songs from its self-titled debut album and from the recently released “All At Once,” as well as a cover of “The Book of Love” by The Magnetic Fields. It took about three songs for the microphones to balance out and for frontman Mikel Jollett to settle in, but after that the hour-and-a-half set sailed smoothly.

Though the band did play some high energy hits such as “Wishing Well,” “Does This Mean You’re Moving On?” and “Sometime Around Midnight,” the highlights of the performance were the tender songs, especially those which featured duet-style performances of Jollett and Anna Bulbrook, the band’s viola player and backup vocalist.

“Duet,” a song about missing your beloved that Jollett introduced by saying sarcastically that the band was getting ready to leave on tour for “the rest of our lives,” and “The Graveyard Near The House” were the two strongest examples of this tenderness, the latter of which was the best song of the entire concert.

The band also had a surprise in store for the audience. The band’s performance of “The Graveyard Near The House” was its first live performance of the song, according to Jollett. A children’s choir also accompanied the band for the last two songs of the encore, which was unfortunately marred slightly by the attempts of four people to rush the stage and party with the band. They were stoically ignored while security and stagehands wrestled them offstage.

Nonetheless, The Airborne Toxic Event played earnestly and energetically, clearly feeling at home back in Los Angeles. It’s a shame they have to leave on tour.