Live Review - Phoenix @ PC Richards Theater

In was the hottest and hardest ticket in town for one of the hardest working and hottest bands of the year. France's Phoenix performed a very intimate set at the PC Richards Theater in TriBeCa last night. In front of industry people, models, radio contest winners and friends of the band, everyone crammed in a room no bigger than your living room to enjoy one of 2009's breakout band. Playing a brief 30 minute set, Phoenix killed it from the second they hit the stage. Opening with the bombastic "Lisztomania" the lead track from their acclaimed Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, the energy from this band would not let up. They sounded beyond perfect, drummer Thomas Hedlund is something to watch, standing up and playing his kit and dancing around without missing a beat. Singer Thomas Mars may not do much, but his band moves around so much that he does not have to. Mars constantly thanked the audience for coming out and seems to be very thrilled the band has broken so big in America, giving the idea that the French may not really hate us. The highlight of the brief set was their "cover," if you will, of Air's "Playground of Love," from Virgin Suicides, a song Phoenix wrote for their fellow Frenchmen. Yet, the band still got their biggest cheers, of course, from the set closing "1901." I did indeed get hooked up with a pass for the show, but Phoenix is a band that is worth every penny to catch over and over again.