The Dismemberment Plan, Paradise, Boston, MA - 1/28/2011

It's funny how excited I was for this show, being a fan of only their last 2 records and not really not a fan of their other output.  I saw the D Plan twice in their original existence, once at Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill/Carrboro, NC, and then on their farewell tour (July 2003) at Echo Lounge in Atlanta, GA.  The latter was an especially rocking show.

We decided to make a Boston (family, friends)/New York City (friends, food, shows) trip with this as an added bonus, timing it all right with a big nasty snow storm.  Amazingly, we got up there and got around without much issue at all.  Foodwise on this particular day, I enjoyed a Legal Seafoods lobster roll (not the greatest ever, but dependable), pizza from Figs in Beacon Hill (excellent) and a post-show Chinese pigout at the Peach Farm (not for the faint of heart).

My sister, on first moving to Boston, had lived a couple of T stops down from the Paradise in Allston, MA, but I had oddly never been to a show at this venerable venue.  That was exciting in and of itself to me.  Similar to other storied venuse like First Avenue or Exit/In, they are not shy about promting the parade of rock legends that had once played there.  I love that stuff, though.

Openers the Forms were pretty bad, like a less inventive (but heavily indebted to Animal Collective.  Then came the D Plan, who both looked and sounded exactly as though 8 years had not passed since I last saw them.  It was uncanny, almost reverse aging.  The beginning of the set was great for me, heavily drawn from Change and Emergency & I.  They sounded very tight, and the drumming continues to be amazing with these guys.  Travis is still a funny, joyful frontman.  The end of the main set and the beginning of the encore were heavy on the jittery early tunes, of which I'm not much of a fan.  The closing with "Spider in the Snow" and "Back and Forth" really saved it for me, though.  They covered almost all the bases and didn't leave out any hits.  Glad I made this trek ...

The Face of the Earth

A Life of Possibilities
Automatic Follow Through
You Are Invited
Sentimental Man
The City
The First Anniversary of Your Last Phone Call
Time Bomb
What Do You Want Me To Say?
Come Home
The Dismemberment Plan Gets Rich
Gyroscope

If I Don't Write

Girl O'Clock

I Love A Magician

Ellen and Ben

Do the Standing Still

OK, Joke's Over

The Ice of Boston (see photo)
That's When the Party Started
Spider In The Snow
Back and Forth