Frightened Rabbit's lyrics poetically and poignantly express the pitfalls of post-breakup pain, regret and coping. Scott Hutchinson's tales of lovesick happenings, delivered in his Scottish accent, teach the Frightened Rabbit crowd to learn from his mistakes and avoid the same pain he manifested in The Midnight Organ Fight. Touring on their latest effort, The Winter of Mixed Drinks, Hutchinson and crew combine cuts from both albums to evoke emotions ranging from the heartbreak of Midnight Organ Fight to the confidence and bravado of their latest album.
Before entering Paradise Rock Club (which Frightened Rabbit insistently claimed to be the best venue in America), I had thought that Frightened Rabbit was a "guy's band," encapsulating the life of a defeated male in a relationship. On the contrary, the venue hosted a balance of guys and girls, the latter clearly not dragged there by their boyfriends--a testament to either the band's universal relatability or simply their sheer musical prowess. It was interesting to observe fans' deeply personal attachment to Frightened Rabbit's music. With the crowd passionately singing along, they had clearly found catharsis, adopting the music's message to their own lives.
Opening with the reverb filled intro of "Things," Frightened Rabbit started the set slowly, Scott Hutchinson's brother Grant laying down a constant bass beat as Scott began the barrage of heavy lyrical content. Now a five-piece band, the remaining players alternated between guitar, bass, and keyboard duties, providing a wonderful backing for the night. Frightened Rabbit's harmonies are not the folky four-parts found in most music these days, but a perfect level of background "oohs" and "ahhs" that, live, added soft layering effects to the tracks from Winter of Mixed Drinks that were ambitious with keys and production effects.
"The Modern Leper" followed "Things," the first of many tracks from The Midnight Organ Fight. The chugging Drop-D guitar riff and buildup to the last chorus with blasting drums and wonderful facial expressions from Grant set the tone for the rest of the night, as Scott moved away from the mic to thrash around with his guitar. The anthemic "Nothing Like You" pounded away at the Paradise, followed by the shuffling acoustic tone of "Old Old Fashioned."
Frightened Rabbit even played a song off their first album, Sing the Greys, and after a toast from Scott, they invited everyone to stay the night in the Paradise, or find them stumbling around Boston later on. I would've considered the phenomenal, re-worked version of "My Backwards Walk" as the set highlight, had I not already thought that of every other song that preceded it. The song built up to a constant chant of "You're the shit and I'm knee deep in it" that the crowd repeated even after its end. I'm a sucker for any song where the entirety of it is a steady and rising crescendo. Ending the set with "Keep Yourself Warm," the entire crowd took over vocal duties, singing the greys of not knowing how to cope with love lost, and regretting the means of keeping oneself warm.
Coming back out for an encore, Scott performed "Poke" by himself with an acoustic, his sincerity and passion overriding the croon of the changed melody of certain lines. No one cared if Scott wanted to yell certain lyrics, speak them faster, or change vocal runs, as they knew the song was his alone, deeply personal and reserving the right to be molded to his whim each night. Crowd favorite "The Twist" followed, and the set ended with the clapping and chanting of "The Loneliness and the Scream" as Frightened Rabbit bid Boston goodnight.
Prior to Frightened Rabbit, Canadian openers Plants and Animals put on a wonderful performance with a dual guitar and drum setup. Songs like "Mercy" had the crowd catching onto the words and singing along. Guitarist Nick tore apart solos and wonderful bouncy riffing, and made some of the best use of volume pedals I've seen. It also happened to be his birthday. Before them was Scottish group the Phantom Band, a mix of post-rock, driving ambiance and deep vocals. Their first song was a definite highlight, layering guitar, synth, melodica and more to a wonderful outro that the drummer had reserved using his crash symbol for.
End Note: After the show, Scott Hutchinson was loading gear into the van, and a friend of mine asked if he could help. Scott replied with, "You don't look nearly strong enough," and upon seeing my friend's heartbreak, came up and introduced himself to all of us and had a chat in the freezing cold. He was extremely personable, and it was fun to talk to the man behind the lyrics of the wonderful music that they played. It always makes a show more enjoyable when the band clearly appreciates the fans. We also learned that before the show, Hutchinson likes to draw a bearded character on an object and sells it at the merch table. We missed out on it, but definitely get there early to claim one.
