Words and Photos by Jose Serrato
Temperatures are starting to drop and the calendar has switched to October. To music fans in Texas, this means it’s time for the annual ACL Festival. With so many bands playing throughout the three day festival, some choose to add another performance at a smaller club for the ACL Nights Series. Phantogram is one of those bands that will be putting in double duty this weekend. Before their performance at the festival on Sunday, Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel spent Saturday night putting on an unforgettable show at a sold out Emo’s.
With doors scheduled to open at 9pm, fans were starting to form a line 2 hours prior to that to ensure their position at the barricade in front of the stage. For tonights concert, Phantogram brought along Los Eclipses, the French/Mexican electronic duo based out of Mexico City. The contrasting sounds of melancholy and euphoria layered on top of each other was a perfect addition to warm up the crowd. Starting promptly at 10pm, Los Eclipses showcased tracks from their 2024 debut album, Eden Sauvage.
Normally I don’t get excited about seeing that a band will not start performing until 11pm, but it’s different with Phantogram. They’re worth the wait. With the crowd still screaming from seeing Josh and Sarah take the stage, the band started with their song “Funeral Pyre,” the opening track from their 2016 release Three.
I think this is a good time to point out that I am a huge fan of Phantogram and I tend to enter my own world when I see them live. Meaning I have a hard time describing what I just saw and felt, but I’ll try my best.
To say that Sarah commands a stage would be an understatement. The Sarah we see in her stories on Instagram is not who we see on stage. The playful and silly person we see on her social media (using a banana as a phone for example) turns into a giant that demands your full attention. If she’s not playing her bass, guitar or keys, (yes, she plays all three instruments live) she is making her way around the stage to connect with everyone from front to back. Those that showed up to Emo’s two hours before doors opened and were in the very front got the same attention and connection as those that may have arrived just before they hit the stage and were in the back. Although her lyrics tend to be dark and heavy, tons of light and joy is exploding from inside her and touching every person who have their eyes and hearts locked on her. I’m seeing faces with tears rolling down from a connection they may feel with the lyrics mixed with smiling faces enjoying the groove of beats that automatically make you bob your head. Some had both the tears and smiles as they took in all the feels they could handle.
The fans were not alone in feeling these songs as we could see how these songs effect the band as well. Take the song “Same Old Blues” from the album Three. In the middle of this song, the music cuts and it’s just Sarah singing with keys playing in the background. We can hear her voice starting to crack from emotion as she sings, “I keep on having this dream where I’m stuck in a hole and I can’t get out. There’s always something that’s pulling me down, down, down.” Her body language can’t hide how these words mean so much to her as I see her hands shaking from trying to keep her composure while releasing emotions at the same time.
We all had plenty of time to feel a little bit of everything as the hour plus set consisted of 18 songs that mixed songs from all five albums. From their 2010 release Eyelid Movies to their recent 2024 release, Memory of a Day.
This was my 7th time seeing Phantogram live and as the venues have gotten bigger over the years, it hasn’t changed the feeling I get when I see them live. Every song takes me back to different times in my life, good and bad. “Black Out Days” takes me back to when I began my sobriety and had that song on heavy rotation to help me through it. “Same Old Blues” reminds me of those dark days where you feel alone but the lyrics remind you that you’re not alone in those feelings. How about hearing the lyric, “I’d rather die than to be with you” and you’re happy that one person is no longer in your life. We all have those bands that tend to mean just a little bit more to us, at least I hope everyone does.
FYI, I’m watching Phantogram’s ACL performance on Hulu as I’m wrapping this up. Can’t get enough.
Set list:
Funeral Pyre
You Don’t Get Me High Anymore
Fall in Love
Feedback Invisible
You’re Mine
It Wasn’t Meant To Be
Same Old Blues
Attaway, Answer
Don’t Move
Ashes
Happy Again
In A Spiral
Cruel World
Black Out Days
Let Me Down
Come Alive
When I’m Small
