Dynamics were the formula for the night as Car Seat Headrest rocked an Orlando crowd on Friday night February 22nd. The Virginia indie rockers delivered a set that showcased the band’s impressive range, eclecticism, and penchant for long, hook-laden anthems.
Following a raucous opening set from Naked Giants, Car Seat Headrest opened their performance with a new song “Can’t Cool Me Down,” which features a slow groove and new-wave synthesizers that slowly builds to an emotional climax. They followed with the hit rockers “Bodys” and “Cute Thing.” Though the band covered material from its eight-year career, the setlist was dominated by the last two albums, 2016’s Teens of Denial and 2018’s Twin Fantasy.
Frontman Will Toledo’s demeanor mirrored that of the band’s music, a fiery juxtaposition of contrasts. Much of the time he was stoic, standing still at the mic while singing in his soft, disaffected scratchy style, but often abruptly transitioning to loudly wailing while dancing to the off-kilter rhythms. With matching dramatic stage lighting, Toledo and company tore through a set of structurally complex rock songs that seamlessly shifted tempos, keys, and between loud and soft. The beautiful vocal harmonies between Toledo and guitarist Ethan Ives were featured in softer songs like “Maud Gone” as well as the heavier numbers.
Many of the songs were performed different than the album versions, with the band making tweaks to the riffs, adding extra measures, and otherwise reinterpreting the material. Their rendition of “Sober to Death,” for example, traded in the song’s jerky start-stop rhythm for a danceable groove. For “Fill in the Blank,” Ives played the song’s signature riff as power chords rather than notes on the first two strings, adding a bit more heft.
After a powerful set of grandiose rock anthems, Car Seat Headrest ended the regular set with the crowd pleasers “Drunk Drivers / Killer Whales” and the frenetic rocker “Destroyed by Hippie Powers.” During the latter performance, touring percussionist Henry LaVallee jumped around the stage banging a cowbell before jumping into the crowd, pulling a girl onstage, and giving her a cowbell of her own to jam on. The song showcased how loud and powerful the pensive band can be on its more aggressive songs.
Such a performance would be hard to top, but they did that with the encore performance of “Beach Life-In-Death,” one of the band’s most dynamic songs. Performed here, the song careened from soft and moody into loud head-banger, stirring up moshing and crowd surfing in the audience. It was a fittingly grandiose closer to a wildly dynamic performance by Car Seat Headrest.
