ARTS & CULTURE
10 Obiter Dicta
A Concert Review: The War on Drugs
Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 5 July 2015
justin philpott › contributor
O
ver the summer I had the great pleasure of seeing one of my favourite bands,
The War on Drugs, at the Montreux Jazz
Festival in Switzerland, one of the most
iconic music festivals in the world. I’ve listened to
Lost in the Dream, seemingly on repeat, since its
release in March 2014. I am really not sure how to
concisely describe it. The music is complex, imaginative, and lustrous. The lyrics are sharp, poignant,
and exacting. The overall production is something
to behold. It’s hauntingly beautiful. It’s devastating.
There was no way I could pass up the opportunity of
hearing some of the songs I’ve come to love played
right in front of me. However, when entering the
venue I felt a little uneasy because some part of me felt
that the band would be unable to capture the intricate sound found on the album. My suspicions were
wrong.
The War on Drugs hit the stage in Montreux as
part of their aptly named Still Lost in the Dream tour.
Founding member and songwriter, Adam Granduciel,
was dressed in his patented denim jacket. The concert was packed to capacity with two thousand fans
at the Jazz Lab, which is part of the attractive and
large complex of venues for the Jazz Fest. Montreux
is a stunning and ritzy little city nestled along east
side of Lake Geneva. The predominately Swiss crowd
was somewhat subdued and nowhere near as rowdy
as I would expect a North American audience to be.
The band opened with “Burning,” one of my favourites from Lost in the Dream (Heck, what I am saying?
They are all my favourites). After experiencing the
end of a long term relationship, Granduciel was in a
dark