The Punchable Portlandian Reviews Enthusiastic Panther
The Fixin’ To played host this week to Portland’s debut of Enthusiastic Panther. If you haven’t heard of them before it’s because they’re the latest export from Australia’s favorite suburb: New Zealand. If you’re into that sort of thing you probably won’t enjoy Enthusiastic Panther; if you’re expecting the raw brilliance of King Gizzard or The Chats you’ll be savagely disappointed.
Despite low expectations, I went to the Saturday night show on the off chance a band that was both new and cool would reach Portland so early in their career. (And people ask me why I’m so jaded). The band disappointed from the top of their set -unironically titled “Top”. I do appreciate that they opened with one of their lesser-known songs before launching into their more mainstream standard “Ticket” in an effort to regain the audiences’ interest. From there the performance slid into a disappointing streak of songs that cast a pall they never quite recovered from.
Rather than questioning my continued attendance (a conundrum to which non-trivial percentage of the audience had settled by making their way to the exit), I kept myself occupied by watching the performers’ interactions. For a band to really present a unified sound, a sound you can get lost in, they need to be able to communicate with each other. This goes beyond counting off “a one, and a two, and a…”, but is a constant, often non-verbal, conversation between bandmates. Gestures, looks, and even proximity keep performers in sync. You can spot it from a mile away when a band is in a state of flow, and Enthusiastic Panther was in a state of flowing violently down the stairs.
First off, it’s a good thing the drummer was positioned in the back because the looks he was giving the rest of the band -the lead singer especially- would have killed them on the spot had they been able to see them. The lead singer seemed oblivious in general. Attempts by the cellist to get his attention to slow the lyrics down to match the rhythm of the song went unheeded. The band began one song despite the guitarist breaking a string, and it wasn’t until a stagehand came up with a backup guitar that they realized what was going on. Enthusiastic Panther already broke up once before and, from the looks of things, it won’t be the last time.
I’d thought the band might have recovered towards the end. I’d hoped it would have all been worthwhile for their solid delivery of pop-melodic “Blue Orange” and fiery “Reload”, however, the band had other plans. While it did enliven the hardcore fans in attendance, the final song of the set ruined the comeback. A common mistake uninformed concert goers make is to blame the band for sounding shitty when actually it’s the sound engineer who’s fucking up. Enthusiastic Panther should have been so lucky. Their last song, ironically titled “The First Show”, was poorly arranged and even more poorly played. If it was their first show it might have been understandable, but Enthusiastic Panther is on their first leg of an international tour.
Uh, yeah guys. Good luck with that.
The Punchable Portlandian gives Enthusiastic Panther a solid D. You might like it if you’re into that sort of thing, but whatever.