Holiday Extravaganza

When I first saw the Polyphonic Spree a few years ago, I decided that I wouldn't miss them when they played in town if I could help it. I have made it to four or five of the six or eight shows they have done since that first time, but I have never seen them put on as good of show as they did Sunday afternoon. After a year off they returned to the Lakewood Theater for their 7th Annual Holiday Extravaganza.

I had made it to the 6th one two years ago at Nokia Theater. This year, they scaled back the extracurricular things like Tap Dancing Grannies and an Animal show, but they made up for it with the energy that was in the small theater. I honestly don't know how they made it through the second show that from what I read was as good if not better than the first.

I'm not a big fan of Christmas music in general, but even I got into the Christmas set. Their rendition of the Little Drummer Boy may be my favorite version of any Christmas song, and Happy Xmas (The War is Over) was great. If that set would have been all the concert we got that night, it would have been worth going, but they still had a rock set to go.

The rock set started out with the band behind a huge red sheet. The harp intro started and slowly Tim DeLaughter started cutting into the sheet. As the hole grew into the shape of a heart until he cut through it completely, they layed into Running Away with a fury and didn't let up for the next hour and a half. The Fragile Army songs really have evolved since the first time I saw them played in March. The set flowed seamlessly with songs from all three albums along with a few great covers highlighted by Live and Let Die.

Lots of balloons and streamers and jumping around on stage. They were just flat out great. After a bit of a let down when I saw them in March, they really made up for it. I don't think you can see the band without having fun.