July 29, 2017 -- Cleveland, OH -- The Shins, Tennis

Venue:  Agora Theater

I love The Shins.  I like the album they were touring on here.  I liked the setlist they played this night.

I do not like being in the pit at the Agora during a sold-out show.  It is awful.  You are "nuts-to-butts" with people and have no room to breath.  As you get sweatier, due to the Agora's almost complete lack of air flow, you begin to question your decision in coming to the show in the first place.

I should have moved.

I could have moved, but at a sold-out show at the Agora it is often very difficult to find a place where you can see if you go back to the raised areas in the back of the venue.

I decided to be stubborn and miserable and stand down in the pit, about ten people from the stage and continuously feel someone breath on my neck, because their mouth was mere inches from my neck.

Tennis opened for The Shins, and this was my second or third time seeing them open for someone.  If you were an alt-rock band in 2017/2018, Tennis seemed to become the go-to band to ask to go out with you on a tour.  I have seen them open for Spoon, The Shins, and I will soon see them open for The Decemberists.  Tennis's  lead singer's hair is always big.  The guitarist's shirt is always shiny.  They are delightful and chill and make a good opening band.

The Shins played many songs that one would expect, but I was once again surprised by their opening up their encore with a sad murky song.  This time it was 'The Fear' off their new album.  Just like seeing their song 'Port of Morrow' open an encore a few years earlier, they elevated a dark and moody song to another level and James Mercer poured himself into the lyrics.  It was wonderful.

They ended with the same 'American Girl' tag during their closing song 'Sleeping Lessons', like I heard them play during the Bunbury Festival.  It liked it more when I heard it on that breezy summer day at Bunbury, but I had more air and more space and James Mercer was wearing cool sunglasses.