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I really enjoyed last night's Caribou show. In the past, I've gone to see my favorite band play, then walked away disappointed, not liking the band anymore. This was not the case with Caribou. The second song they played was my favorite, "Bees," then followed it with my favorite song off of Up In Flames, "Bijoux," I was really excited, then worried that Caribou is like totally mainstream now, and my favorite songs are fan favorites, with jocks pumping them out of their Jeeps in the Jenks High School parking lot. I hope not.

When I think of electronic projects like Caribou playing live, I usually think of automated rhythm tracks playing while the artist sings or plays guitar. There was certainly live guitar - Mr. Snaith had a touring guitarist - but all of the drums were live, but the vocals were canned, which was certainly an interesting approach to a live set. Snaith played guitar on the first song, then played kit and keyboards for most of the show. He's quite a drummer; I was really impressed when he and the touring drummer busted out polyrhythms I assumed were programed when I listened to the records.

One complaint I had about the show was that the sound levels seemed a little too high. Much of the time songs I knew well sounded muddy and distorted, and, even with earplugs, the music was about two notches louder than what I would listen to with headphones. At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man, I go to way too many shows where the music is way too loud. I'm 29 years old and I'm already losing my hearing. Granted, this is primarily from cranking up the volume on my headphones to cover up subway noise, but I worry about the younger kids at shows who aren't thinking about tinnitus.