White Rabbits
with Local Natives and Glass Ghost
Berbati's, Portland, OR
8 Nov 2009
Photos by Rachel Coppenhaver


It was sadly empty in Berbati's when opening band Glass Ghost took the stage, making it clear why the show had been moved from the larger Wonder Ballroom the week prior. With an audience of about fifty people, Glass Ghost played a set of about half an hour. The Brooklyn duo on keyboard and drums were unfortunately lacking in energy for most of the show, and failed to even introduce the band until near the end of their set. Things did pick up a bit when they brought out the two drummers from White Rabbits to play with them on the last two songs.

Next up, with the venue slowly filling, was Local Natives hailing from Los Angeles. The five member band quickly captured the attention of the audience and played for about 40 minutes. With four of the members contributing to vocals (no vocals from the drummer), they were able to achieve some really great harmonies in their songs. Local Natives plan to release their album next year, with “Wide Eyes” opening the album. In addition to the original songs that they played, they also performed their cover of “Warning Sign” by the Talking Heads, which is also available to listen to on their MySpace page.

Local Natives Setlist:
World News
Airplane
Wide Eyes
Cards & Quarters
Who Knows, Who Cares
Warning Sign (Talking Heads)
Sun Hands

By the time headliners White Rabbits took the stage, Berbati's had mostly filled up. While the stage setup was a bit annoying – the piano in the middle at the front of the stage made it quite hard to see the whole band at any given point – the show was fun an energetic. The songs were a nice mix of old and new, although current single “Percussion Gun” seemed to be absent from the setlist. The crowd seemed to especially enjoy “While We Go Dancing” and “The Plot” from 2007's Fort Nightly.
To end the night, the band played a three-song encore, with a mystery guest vocalist to sing on the last song. (I didn't recognize him, if you can help out with who it was, let us know!) White Rabbits definitely put on a good show, too bad there wasn't more fans to support them.

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