The Shins World Changes

The Shins played to a full house last Tuesday night at the Electric Factory but for front man James Mercer and company, they must have felt left out.
The crowd, which was filled with emo teenagers, frat boys, thirtysomethings and a couple over 50 patrons, was unresponsive for the majority of the show.
The anticipation once opener Viva Voce left the stage was mild at best, and after roughly a half hour wait, the band from Albuquerque took the stage to a less then wild ovation.
Opening their set with the first four songs from their new album, “Wincing the Night Away”, The Shins must be held responsible for the lackluster crowd response.
Throughout the night, the band seemed to lack focus and the intensity that is expected at a rock show. It was not until the fifth song of the night, “Kissing the Lipless” from their second LP “Chutes Too Narrow”, that the audience got into the set and sang along. A few songs later though, the band had lost the crowd again, so they went to their bread and butter.
“New Slang”, their most famous song after being featured in 2004’s Garden State, was able to grab the crowd’s attention again despite a lackluster performance. The remainder of the set was up and down.
The crowd was an odd mix. Before The Shins took the stage, one teenager upon entering the venue remarked, “There’s a lot of old people here.” There were the fans who knew every song, dating back to the band’s 2001 debut “Oh, Inverted World” and then there were the fans like the one’s standing next to me.
About an hour through the set, after guitarist Dave Hernandez told the crowd, “We’re gonna start to rock!!”, the girl next to me turned to her friends and informed them that she wanted to go home. Her friend replied she had heard everything she wanted except for “Caring is Creepy”. A couple minutes later they left.
This is a majority of the reason for the lukewarm reception The Shins received. Their performance itself was inconsistent but had enough high points, like the new song “A Comet Appears” and old song “Know Your Onion”, that an audience of paying customers should be interested.
The Shins, after two releases that fell below the radar, have broken through to the mainstream. This results in a different crowd attending their shows, like the one at the Electric Factory. It also must result in the band finding a way to please their original fans while keeping new ones interested, at the same time without compromising themselves.
Last week, they were unable to find this balance. As one of the few talented and original popular bands hopefully The Shins can find this balance or else they will find themselves left out.