Boston embraces Passion Pit
It is pretty incredible to think that it just over a year ago Passion Pit won the Boston Phoenix’s “Best Local Act” category. (They then went on to win almost every other title they were nominated for in 2009 in the Boston Music Poll.), Still seems a bit strange for this exploding band to be considered a local act, a year later it is easy to completely forget Passion Pit began in the humble dorms of Emerson College and Berklee College of Music.
Passion Pit - Dreams
Cranberries cover
Alas, when we take a trip down memory lane, the story of Passion Pit’s beginning is about as specifically Boston as a lobster roll, or an Allston rat... whatever rings most true to you. It is a tale of a tape for a girlfriend recorded in a dorm room and word of mouth leading somewhere big. What more could better indicate our fair city’s charms? Boston is small and passionate enough that a personal anniversary project could soar Michael Angelakos, Ian Hultquist, Ayad Al Adhamy, Jeff Apruzzese and Nate Donmoyer to pop stardom.
RSL Streaming Photo Album
PASSION PIT in BOSTON
PASSION PIT in BOSTON
So while Passion Pit's story is far from over, their path did lead them back to Boston on Saturday to the new revamped Royale night club just around the corner from Emerson, Angelakos’s alma mater. The 800-ticket free show to promote American Express’s new ZYNC card was closed out only a minute or two after passes were released. The swanky club, decked in AMEX and Twitter garb was filled with eager fans struggling their way up to the stage even during the opening DJ set.
Boston Love - When Passion Pit took over, the guys were so amped to play that Angelakos’s unruly beard was ready to jump off his face. During their hour and a half long set the music only stopped long enough for him to exclaim into the microphone grateful sighs of disbelief at the energy of the crowd. With the grand finale of “Sleepyhead,” Angelakos jumped into the audience and looked about as thrilled as the sweaty faces around his. Whether the last song crowd schmooze was a routine Passion Pit procedure or truly an improvised decision is unclear. What is not unclear, however, is that Passion Pit is TOTALLY still ours. They aren’t forgetting that dorm rooms and masses of students are their bread and butter, nor that the place to find both those commodities is, first and foremost, Boston.
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