All concerns and emergency exits plans were forgotten once Islands took the stage. Playing their patented crisp indie-pop grooves, the band was able to work around their claustrophobic inducing small stage quarters to give the audience a great show. Unfortunately, the crowd didn’t return the favor posing instead to be more nonchalant than excited, something I definitely didn’t expect from such an overflowing group of college kids. Regardless, Islands were able to churn out hit after hit (I’m looking at you “Creeper” and “The Arm”) while keeping the crowd between “arms crossed” and “nodding level” of entertained.

Only until after the concert did I really fully understood how many Islands songs I had in my iTunes 5-star category. Although I would classify them as a more conservative of Montreal — you know, if Kevin Barnes was way less weird and wore pants — they still makes some great indie-pop songs that you don’t feel ashamed singing along to whether it’s in the shower or at a show. Although most known for the dance-worthy type beats, part of their draw for me is their superb integration of violin by multi-instrumentalist Alex Chow — most noticeably on “To a Bond” and “Pieces of You” off of their most recent LP Arm’s Way. I was more intrigued watching Chow perform more so than any other band member primarily because of his seamless shift from strings to keys. He is what keeps the band on topic for their slower ballad-like songs and also connects different movements in epic 7+ minute tracks like “In the Rushes”.

Islands certainly wasn’t the most exciting live act I’ve seen over in Europe but they rekindled my love of the band. With only two LPs to boot — one of which came out within the past year — the band has no where to go but up when they keep adding onto their already impressive repertoire. To quench your Islands thirst, here is a video of “The Arm” I took at the show:

As always you can check out my concert photos here, but I would suggest looking at this guy’s shots from the show since he was more in tune with the crowd situation and scored a spot on the front row.