Passion Pit wows at Laurier

Michael Angelakos embodies the saying “love makes you do crazy things.” In a belated Valentine’s Day gift for a previous girlfriend, Angelakos wrote most of the songs that would later form the basis for Passion Pit’s first E.P. Chunk of Change. Now six years, one E.P. and two L.P.’s later, Passion Pit is fully acclaimed in their own right.
Passion Pit recently played an intimate show at Wilfrid Laurier’s own Turret nightclub to a mostly full crowd. On stage, Angelakos commented that it was “nice to play show like this after having come off the festival circuit.” As this was the first show to kick off the school year, Activities Team (A-Team) encouraged all students to attend with the incentive of a contest. The concept was simple: purchase a ticket and instantly be entered to win a variety of prizes, which ranged from a free makeover from local shop Gloss and Loop to sending you and a friend on a spring break trip.
Though there was some confusion when the show was moved from the Athletic Complex (A.C.) to the Turret, the show went on smoothly.  Coming on promptly at 10 p.m., Angelakos began with a rather impressive falsetto, managing to keep it throughout the entire song. While seasoned fans of Passion Pit would understand what was happening, this could have been seen as alienating or confusing to newer or casual fans.

Angelakos’ next song choice did not feature a falsetto and the energy of the crowd went right up.
One of the more exciting moments of the concert was when Angelakos played their recent monster hit “Take a Walk” off of their latest release Gossamer. Though the audience was excited, the energy was always a bit more on the mellow side of things. This reflected the style of Passion Pit as well—though some of their songs are more high energy, Passion Pit still has a wide number of songs that are better suited for relaxing.
That being said, this was an extremely well-done concert. Angelakos’ singing voice is his strongest quality. He throws everything he has into his performance—he gets so absorbed that him addressing the audience and his performance seems like two separate people. He came off as awkward to the audience but was mostly friendly.

Passion Pit also played a perfect blend of content from their three previous releases—every single person in the audience knew at least one song. After playing a 45 minute set, Passion Pit encored with “Little Secrets” and “Cry Like A Ghost.”
Michael Angelakos and Passion Pit declined an interview with The Cord.