Last weekend, we had the privilege of catching RAC’s fifth ever live show at the Observatory OC. Having only seen DJ sets by Andre and Karl, we didn’t know how this would fly. They were continually retweeting people talking about how the set was high energy, but how…was the mystery. We got into the venue filled with anticipation – it’s been a while since we’ve been this giddy to see an artist we’ve seen before. The band stepped out on stage to the roaring crowd: Andre, Liz (Andre’s wife), Karl, and Jeffrey Jerusalem of YACHT. I have to add right now that there was this weird feeling of insane happiness to see Andre and Liz up there following through with their passion together. True love is real people! They got right into it with one of our favourites: Foster the People’s Houdini and the room started heating up almost instantly.
They continued to play their crowd classics in a fresh new way that only live instruments could orchestrate. Among them were Two Door’s Something Good Can Work, Temper Trap’s Sweet Disposition, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Zero, Hollywood, and a guest appearance by MNDR for the encore: Let Go. The standout tracks of the night were Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros’ Home, which they completely revamped to incorporate the kind of energy the song always lacked, and their original off the latest EP, Tourist. RAC also decided to surprise us with a completely new original that showcased Karl on vocals! Can’t wait to see that one surface for us all to fawn over. We were thoroughly impressed with how the live instruments brought the fire out of tracks we always viewed as being more “chill” than anything. Not to mention the eye candy they brought to the table:Strangeloop’s Reactive Pillar was a work of art!
We have no qualms with saying we were dancing and singing along non-stop. And all too soon, the show was over. I have to say, though, it was getting pretty unbearably hot in there – sweat dripping from the ceiling status. That’s just how you know it was a special show! One of our friend’s summed it up quite well: “RAC is one of the bands we’d follow around the country on a live tour.” We agree and absolutely hope they incorporate more live shows into their schedule. Best of luck to the crew and big up on a glorious transfer to a live band.
