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| James Mercer of The Shins @ the Warfield (Photo: Akshay Sawhney) |
On Tuesday night indie rock veterans The Shins kicked off the “Oh, Inverted World 21st Birthday Tour” at The Warfield in San Francisco, celebrating the groups highly acclaimed debut album which was honored with a remastered release on the Sub Pop label last year.
James Mercer and the band performed the entire 2001 album front-to-back to a grateful audience that was not shy to sing along with Mercer, especially on those hits that brought the band mainstream attention by way of the 2004 hit movie Garden State – the dramatic “Caring Is Creepy” and the melodic and ghostly “New Slang”.
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| Mark Watrous of the Shins @ the Warfield (Photo: Akshay Sawhney) |
Eleven songs into the set, The Shins dove into their catalog to share hits such as “Phantom Limb” & “Australia” off the 2007 Grammy nominated Wincing the Night Away and “Turn a Square” & “Saint Simon” off their 2003 sophomore release Chutes Too Narrow. Fans were also treated to (and arguably caught off guard) when Mercer kicked out a short cover of Stone Temple Pilots “Vasoline” two-thirds of the way into the night, reading song lyrics off his phone as if it was a last minute entry on the first night of the tour. See below for a fan shot video:
The Shins ended the evening with a two song encore – “Sleeping Lessons” off the 2007 Wincing the Night Away played with an interlude featuring Tom Petty’s fan favorite “American Girl” and the hugely popular “Simple Song” off the 2012 Port of Morrow.
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| Patti King of the Shins @ the Warfield (Photo: Akshay Sawhney) |
Twenty-one years in, The Shins, who have been mostly absent from touring since 2017 are out on the street giving us definitive indie rock from the 2000s that has stood the test of time. The tour will hit a number of North American locations, including the Mountain Winery in Saratoga this Saturday so be sure to check it out!
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| The Shins @ the Warfield (Photo: Akshay Sawhney) |
Opening the night was the Portland, Oregon folk band Joseph. Made up of three sisters, the trio was down one sister who was recovering from appendicitis surgery! But you wouldn’t know it by the stellar performance. Definitely one of the best openers I’ve seen in a long while!
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| Joseph @ the Warfield (Photo: Akshay Sawhney) |
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