Phantogram | Austin City Limits 2014

Article Contributed by Caitlin St. Pierre | Published on Thursday, October 23, 2014

Phantogram’s first song at their 5:00 slot on ACL’s Miller Lite stage was none other than the first song off their new album Voices, dropped earlier this year.  The time slot had to fight with simultaneous performances from Jenny Lewis and Chromeo, but looking at the crowd you wouldn’t have known.

This was far from a controversially commercial EDM dance set, but everyone moved, danced, and shook as if it was a mandatory part of the experience.  Which I suppose it is.  For two people, the presence they make on stage is impressive.  If you’re looking for a fun fact (and one that I only found out about 3 minutes ago) Phantogram was originally known as Charlie Everywhere.  I for one am happy about the name-change.

The show was highly-anticipated and one of the buzzwords you kept hearing long after the show ended:  “Who were some of your favorites?” “Definitely Phantogram…”  Except because it took about a full day to shake the ringing in our ears it played out a bit more like this:  “WHO WERE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITES?”  “…WHAT?”  Equally buzzed about though, was Sarah Barthel herself.  Pictures of her danced around my Instagram feed for a while, and I don’t blame admirers.  She was rocking leather pants better than Interpol (sorry guys!)

Most of the show debuted the album Voices, except of course to include “Don’t Move,” what is to me their most recognizable song.  Judging by the thousands of people who sang along, I’d say it was unanimous.

After complaining about the heat, (like you’re the first artist to do that!) Sarah introduced “Fall in Love” by saying “This next song is about Texas..”  Back at ya, Sarah.  Thank you, Phantogram.