Let me start out by saying this: Passion Pit is lamely American. They in no way exude the chic nerdiness of Hot Chip, the subtle, foreign sexiness of The XX, the extravagant look of Empire of The Sun or the hipster overkill of Yacht. They wear regular clothes, sing songs about their feelings, and have big choruses full of over-joyous major chords and rainbows of synth. They are nothing like the artists and groups they contend with, and they couldn’t be if they tried. But they are a damn good band.

The proof was in the crowd, which was one of the most diverse I have ever seen, especially for The Congress Theater, which generally caters to a much younger audience. The all-ages show was chalked full of every type of person you can imagine, from third graders to indie teens to Soulja Boy’s entourage to your grandma’s friend from book club: They were all packed into the sold out theater on Thursday night for one reason, and that reason was Passion Pit.

The band came out to a thunderous applause, and went right into the bouncy “Make Light”. They had no problem sounding like the real deal, and throughout the performance I was impressed by their instrumental talents, and the fullness of their sound- you could literally hear every bell and whistle of the record being played live. Everybody in the band plays an instrument, and they do so quite well. The group even threw in some discrete jam sessions at the tail ends of songs like “Sleepyhead” and “Let Your Love Grow Tall” , helping to prove the point that electronic bands can be real bands too- (not every group has to have the typical bass, guitar and drum combo, dad) . Lead singer Michael Angelakos was on point as well, his pitch-perfect falsetto in pristine condition despite a serious sinus infection.

Passion Pit does have their faults. They haven’t really figured out how to make their concert an aesthetic and musical experience yet, and in the end they basically played music for 45 minutes and left. That might be fine if they were an acoustic band or singer-songwriter troupe, but this is Passion Pit we are talking about. Their music sounds like a Sesame Street character on Ecstasy. But given that they are a relatively young band that started out as Angelakos alone in his room, writing songs about his girlfriend, it seems like their chances of getting better all-around are pretty high. Here’s to you, Passion Pit. Your future does indeed look as bright as you make it sound.

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