Live Review: The New Pornographers at L.A.'s Wiltern Theatre (10/17) — consequenceofsound.net

Six albums into their career, The New Pornographers are embracing their longevity, their acclaim, and their success. Friday night’s headline set at the Wiltern Theatre was their largest headlining gig ever in Los Angeles (though it did not sell out), and clocking in at just under two hours, it was also their longest. But, maybe even more noteworthy was the fact that they sounded better than they ever have. With often eight people onstage, four different lead vocalists, and a wide arrange of auxiliary instrumentation, the sound was impeccably mixed to highlight just the right Pornographer at just the right time. This also allowed for appreciation of the group harmonies. A song like “Testament to Youth in Verse”, long a highlight of their live set, let A.C. Newman, Dan Bejar, Neko Case, and Kathryn Calder sing as a whole and as individuals, with each discernible from the whole, but coming together to make a sum greater than each of their individual contributions. I guess that’s what harmony is supposed to be.

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