Unknown Mortal Orchestra made a stop at The Fillmore in San Francisco in support of their latest album, V. A simple stage set up with nothing but a backlit sign of the band’s initials “UMO” posed as a difficult environment for photographers. As part of this tour run, Unknown Mortal Orchestra was only allowing photographers to shoot the show on film only, no flash.
Taking to the stage one band member at a time, Unknown Mortal Orchestra exemplified energetic professionalism. The night got to a gradual start as guitarist and singer, Ruban Nielson rolled in the intro to “The Garden,” the opening song to their latest album as well. While the band treated the audience to newer songs off of V, such as “Layla,” “Meshuggah,” and “That Life,” they made sure to revisit classic, older gems like the slow yet infectious “So Good at Being in Trouble,” and the buzzing “Neccessary Evil.” The band closed their main set with “Multi-Love,” a classic in the Unknown Mortal Orchestra discography that showed off Nielson’s intricate guitar work. Later a six song encore closed the night, featuring a cover of “Lust for Life” by Girls, along with “Hunnybee” from their softer lo-fi album Sex & Food. Though much of the band’s earlier song craft is known to be more softer and melodic, Unknown Mortal Orchestra shows that their stylistic changes between albums can weave in and out seamlessly between one another, creating an incomparable, refined sound.
