Pitchfork

Photos by Nilina Mason-Campbell

With 120 people onboard, the Crystal Dolphin set sail down Portland's Willamette River Saturday night for a unique CD release show for YACHT's I Believe in You. Your Magic Is Real. (out tomorrow on Marriage Records).

Following a DJ set, L.A.'s Bobby Birdman's live performance came to an abrupt halt as the unpleasant smell of smoke entered the space-- the P.A. had spontaneously caught fire! The overheated device was unplugged to cool down, and the question of whether the show would go on arose for a moment. Cue audience participation at its finest! Bobby used his hand as a conductor's baton and led everyone assembled into making a beat with our voices that he then sang over.

After the near-disaster, YACHT appeared onstage to play a three song set of "See a Penny (Pick It Up)", "We're Always Waiting", and "It's Coming to Get You". He soon transcended the band/crowd divide, performing mostly from inside the audience, and then launching himself on top of it-- barely squeezing between audience hands and the low yacht ceiling.

Having docked, the party continued on dry land where YACHT played a longer set at Disjecta (his original plans to play Portland's Oregon Museum of Science & Industry were dashed when the museum took objection to the name of opener Adrian Orange's backing band: the Child Slave Rebellion. Um, okay then.)

YACHT's Jona Bechtolt performed half his Disjecta set from his laptop-- with Bobby Birdman joining him onstage for "Platinum"-- and again crowd-surfed. A brief Q&A session with the audience had Jona roaring like a lion and barking like a dog. To see this whole hysterical mess home, Bechtolt then invited some of Portland's scene-- including musicians and record label personnel-- to join him onstage. Together, this impromptu PDX supergroup reinterpreted the rest of YACHT's songs as a one-off grunge band that they assured would never happen again.

YACHT's dry-land tour with LCD Soundsystem continues this week, followed by a slew of his own dates.

BONUS: CHECK OUT VIDEO FROM THE HOT YACHT-ON-YACHT ACTION, COURTESY OF JUDAH SWITZER

BOBBY BIRDMAN


CRYSTAL DOLPHIN


YACHT rock:

05-07 Detroit, MI - Majestic Theater *
05-08 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix Concert Theater *
05-09 Montreal, Quebec - Spectrum de Montreal *
05-11 Boston, MA - Avalon *
05-12 Brooklyn, NY - Studio B *
05-13 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club *
05-14 New York, NY - Webster Hall *
05-15 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
05-16 Denver, CO - Hi-Dive
05-17 Lawrence, KS - Jackpot Saloon
05-18 St. Louis, MO - Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center
05-19 Oklahoma City, OK - Conservatory
05-20 Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves
05-21 Houston, TX - Proletariat
05-22 Austin, TX - Emo's ^
05-24 Phoenix, AZ - Modified Arts ^
05-25 San Diego, CA - The Ché Café
05-26 Upland, CA - Baldy Brewery
05-27 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo ^
05-28 Davis, CA - Delta of Venus ^
05-31 Olympia, WA - Manium Warehouse ^
06-02 Portland, OR - Holocene ^
06-13 Seattle, WA - Neumos #
06-14 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards #
06-15 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom #
06-16 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's 365 Club #
06-18 Pomona, CA - Glasshouse #
06-19 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre #
07-02 Tokyo, Japan - O-Nest !
07-03 Yokohama, Japan - Club 24 !
07-04 Nagoya, Japan - KD Japon !
07-05 Kobe, Japan - Triton Cafe !
07-06 Okayama, Japan - TBA !
07-07 Kyoto, Japan - Urbanguild !
07-08 Kanazawa, Japan - Socila !

* with LCD Soundsystem
^ with Tussle
# with Architecture in Helsinki
! with Au Revoir Simone