The Shins, in concert at the Firefly Music Festival in Dover Maryland this week. Recorded only a few weeks ago and putting us in full-on Summer festival mode. The Shins have been around since 1996 (21 years . . .really?), went on hiatus, changed directions, looked back, looked forward and have kept a consistent eye on pop traditions. Having been cited as a definitive link between the era of The Zombies and The Beach Boys and present day music making, they are known for their distinctive style and rich word imagery, one which has served them well in all this time.
This concert is part of a tour the band embarked on in March, to coincide with the release of their fifth album, Heartworms. They are doing a full-U.S. tour, including an appearance at Lollapalooza in Chicago before heading over to Europe to dive into Festival mania over there, with appearances at Way Out West, Rock en Seine, The Green Man Festival, Pukkelpop and The Lowlands Festival, before heading back to the States in September to finish off the tour criss-crossing the U.S. with shows in Berkeley, Phoenix and New Orleans before ending up in Mexico City.
Billed as a “small tour”, one wonders what a “big tour” would look like, but there are plenty of opportunities to catch them this time around (no L.A. dates, aside from a show in Pomona on March 4th, but an upcoming gig in San Diego if you don’t mind the 2-hour + drive). I would try and seek them out, they are great band to watch live, as is evidence by this high-energy show from Dover, Maryland.
Crank this one up and take the weekend off – you earned it. Really. Honest. I can tell.
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