“As you might know, this is the first night of the tour,” Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker told a buzzing, sold-out crowd at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Monday night. “That means it’s a pretty epic night, and there was nowhere more epic to kick this whole shit off than New York City, obviously.
“That [also] means anything can happen,” the Aussie psych-rocker-turned-arena-star continued. “And by that, I mean for the better, but also anything can fall apart at any moment – just so you know.”
Improbably, Tame Impala has become one of modern rock’s biggest live draws. But its catalog is littered with insecurity and loneliness – from 2010 breakout single “Solitude Is Bliss” to beloved 2012 album Lonerism to “Loser,” now a Hot 100 hit from the just-released new album Deadbeat – and even after headlining festivals, producing a Dua Lipa album, and winning a Grammy, Tame mastermind Kevin Parker still clearly has some imposter syndrome.
Five albums in, Tame Impala now has a large enough catalog that tough setlist choices must be made; always known for lasers and confetti, its stage production is more complex than ever, with far more audio and visual components to possibly malfunction. And prior to Barclays on Monday, Tame Impala hadn’t played a proper headlining show in two-and-a-half years.
But Parker – outside of a mildly worn voice he attributed during the encore to an unspecified ailment – had little to worry about. Critics haven’t embraced Deadbeat in the same way as the band’s past projects, but fans greeted freshly minted hits “Dracula” and “Loser” nearly as rapturously as Tame standards like “Let It Happen” and “The Less I Know The Better.” The excitement extended to other Deadbeat material (the setlist featured 10 of its 12 tracks), which the audience responded to even more than cuts from Tame’s first two acclaimed albums, Innerspeaker and Lonerism. The band’s stage production, meanwhile, was more elaborate than ever, while still channeling the colorful, psychedelic aesthetic that’s always been its calling card.
“The only one who’s really judging you is yourself – nobody else,” Parker sings on Innerspeaker deep cut “Alter Ego,” an unexpected inclusion on Monday’s setlist. As the dance-oriented Deadbeat‘s mixed reception has proven, that’s no longer quite true, at least for Parker. But the Barclays crowd on Monday was clearly in his thrall – as those at the next three shows Tame Impala has planned at the venue this week will also surely be.
Here are some of the best moments from Tame Impala’s first Deadbeat show – and when you’re done with that, here’s the complete setlist.
Billboard‘s Live Music Summit will be held in Los Angeles on Nov. 3. For tickets and more information, click here.
A Different Crowd
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By now, Tame Impala has been a Rihanna-approved, festival-headlining band for as long as it was an under-the-radar psych-rock act. Even so, the Barclays crowd on Monday night demonstrated that Parker truly is, for lack of a better word, a pop star now. The flannel-clad indie-rock set was nowhere to be found, replaced by giddy twentysomethings sporting their clubbing best. Phones went up, and stayed up, for much of the set – except during deep cuts from Parker’s acclaimed first two albums, which much of the crowd met with indifference. Amid mixed reviews for Deadbeat, some critics have wondered who prefers Tame Impala’s new material to its old stuff – they’d have found the answer gathered at Barclays on Monday.
New and Improved Production
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Tame Impala performed in the round Monday night, a choice that made its set at times feel more like a jam session – in a good way – than a proper concert. And in the spirit of the dance artists Parker clearly seeks to emulate, it also blurred the boundary between artist and audience. Like those dance artists, Tame Impala continues to have one of today’s most visually stunning concert offerings; the giant lighting ring it debuted at Coachella in 2019 and used while touring 2020’s The Slow Rush has now been replaced by two concentric, segmented circular lighting rigs that hang above the band (alongside circularly arranged screens) and bob up and down in different formations throughout the show as lasers around the stage’s perimeter flash. And longtime fans need not worry: Parker remains one of music’s most enthusiastic confetti proponents.
Deadbeat as It’s Meant to Be Heard
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Deadbeat‘s material makes more sense in a live setting. This was always likely to be the case for its most dance-oriented tracks like “Not My World” and “End of Summer,” which sound more tailored for a 2:00 a.m. DJ set than a Spotify rock playlist. Those electronic cuts shook the venue on Monday – but so did Deadbeat‘s more traditional songs, like “Dracula” and “Loser,” which morphed into glammy arena-rockers.
Finding the Through Lines
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Given the depth of Parker’s catalog, it seemed possible – likely, even – that on Monday he would eschew his first two albums, Innerspeaker and Lonerism. But in addition to Lonerism singles and Tame classics “Elephant” and “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards,” the band busted out Innerspeaker‘s “Alter Ego” and Lonerism‘s “Endors Toi” and “Apocalypse Dreams.”
As much as some like to sort Tame Impala’s music into psych-rock and dance buckets, the inclusion of this earlier material demonstrated what many fans have long known: Tame’s focus on groove and rhythm dates back to its earliest days, and is what set it apart from many of its rock peers in the first place. From added oomph on “Apocalypse” and “Elephant” to an extended, synth-heavy “Alter Ego” intro, Tame subtly recontextualized its oldest material for its new era, and several sequences – like following a beefed-up version of “Gossip,” an interstitial track from 2015’s Currents, with “Elephant” and Deadbeat‘s “Afterthought” – were strikingly natural.
Taking the Long Way to the B-Stage
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Halfway through the show, as the band played the instrumental for Deadbeat track “No Reply,” Parker made his way to the B-stage for a three-song miniset – but first, he made a pit stop. A cameraman followed him as he left the arena floor and made a beeline for… the bathroom. Just as he was about to relieve himself, the camera averted its gaze, zooming in on Parker’s white sneakers. When Parker returned, bladder empty, he posted up on a B-stage festooned with lamps, pillows, and a small fortune’s worth of synthesizers to deliver quaking renditions of Deadbeat‘s danciest material, “Ethereal Connection” and “Not My World.”
A Surprise Encore Choice
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During its main set, Tame Impala didn’t play its most-streamed song (Currents‘ “The Less I Know The Better”) or Deadbeat‘s first single (“End of Summer”); when the band returned for an encore, its song selection was somewhat predictable. Or so it seemed. After asking the audience for its singing support, Parker, having a bit of fun, wondered aloud, “Can you guess what the next song is? Who can guess what the next song is?” The chords to his Grammy-winning 2024 Justice collaboration “Neverender” kicked in, and the audience shrieked.
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