photo credit: weworemasks

Portugal. the Man’s discography reads of a band that’s been around for well over a decade. The Danger Mouse-produced Evil Friends is the Alaskan band’s seventh studio album, and already climbing up the ranks as one of their most cohesive and best works yet. But the truth is, this is their 7th album in 7 years. That type of strict work ethic to manage to put out new music every year, remain a touring act and play festivals is a heavier workload than most bands could deal with, but John Gourley and company have made it the band’s mission statement. The band stopped by Houston’s House of Blues Thursday night, and brought along New York’s Guards along for the ride.

Hit the jump for the recap.

-grizzly


photo credit: weworemasks

From the time Portugal. the Man hit the stage with “Purple Yellow Red and Blue” until the set-closing “Sleep Forever,” there were few to no breaks in music. Throughout the transitional periods between songs, the band managed to interlude and weave their way seamlessly through a set most veteran bands could dream of pulling off. Minimal chatter, just the way I like it – and discography spanning set that seems impossible for a band with seven LPs under their belt. The crowd was cool and collected, everyone soaking in the sounds of the band that were put in front of an immense mountainous LED set up, filled with various images of John Gourley’s signature artwork that’s been driving their aesthetic for years now.

You know when a band puts out a new album, much like Portugal. The Man did not but 3 weeks ago, and the crowd typically hasn’t caught on yet? That definitely wasn’t the case, because all of the Evil Friends material was met with plenty of thunderous claps and gang vocals from everyone in the venue. It was a refreshing change of pace from the “stand there because you’re dead weight and this is a song you don’t know” behavior that runs rampant at most shows. (Don’t worry, we’re all guilty!) One of the albums highlights, “Modern Jesus,” had festival levels of crowd participation, as did “Purple Yellow Red and Blue,” which ended up getting reprised to end the set. Long time band member Zach Corrothers even preluded the encore with a brief speech and an “I don’t even know how” type of explanation for playing their new single twice.

photo credit: weworemasks

As in many Portugal shows past, the band is a tight live unit, adding in auxiliary percussion, female background vocals and handing everyone on stage a microphone to contribute to the gang vocals. Not to mention, John Gourley’s soulful voice worked wonders when they worked in a couple of covers into their set, mainly via the aforementioned interlude. Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine” and The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” were both worked into the set, but perhaps the biggest clincher to the “Portugal. The Man knows their music” argument was them covering “Day Man.” Yeah, the “Day Man” from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. It’s hard to look back on this band and see how far they’ve come. The first time I ever saw them perform was in 2007 on a cold night at Walters, a venue that holds about 150, but only housed about 1/3 of that for the band’s headlining set. And now – 6 years later, they’re playing in front of a near capacity crowd at House of Blues that boasted $35 seats. But like I mentioned before, that work ethic is what got ’em here, and what will keep around for hopefully 7 more.

[SETLIST]

Purple Yellow Red and Blue
All Your Light (Times Like These)
Evil Friends
So American
People Say
The Sun
Atomic Man
Senseless
Modern Jesus
The Home
Guns and Dogs
Hip-Hop Kids
Creep in a Tshirt
Purple Yellow Red and Blue (Reprise)
–
Sea of Air
Chicago
Sleep Forever