Fitz and the Tantrums are like six shots of espresso, right to the heart. For those unfamiliar with this band, they combine neo-soul and indie pop into 90 minutes of spunky, dance-inducing, heart-thumping, uplifting music. On June 30 they played a sold-out show at Red Butte Gardens. Their setlist came from two studio albums: Pickin’ Up The Pieces (released 2010), which has a classic Motown sound, and their more recent release, More Than Just a Dream, which has a considerably more recognizable pop influence.
The stage was sparse – a reenactment of their album cover, which sports a neon bar of light that serpentines into the shape of a heart, and a few more spotlights. The heart changed with each song. During ‘House of Fire,’ the lights imitated a flickering flame in the heart. They didn’t add a lot of gimmicks or spectacles, and they didn’t need to. The music is engaging and their stage performance energizing, mostly led by Michael Fitpatrick (Fitz), and co-singer Noelle Scaggs.
In addition to their regular material, they played a funk cover of Eurythmic’s ‘Sweet Dreams’ and a soulful, ballad version of their own ‘Last Raindrop.’ In the album version, the lyrics can be lost in the pop hook. When it’s slowed down (and complemented by a heart-wrenching jazz saxophone solo by James King), the sad message of the song came out. Fitz and Scaggs crooned to each other.
Fitz and Scaggs didn’t seem to drop their energy the entire time they were onstage, but they probably could have gotten away with taking a breather every time King stepped up to blast out a solo, whether it was on saxophone or jazz flute.
At the end of the core set, they played ‘L.O.V.’ Things went bananas, both onstage and off, like a runaway train that you’d rather see crash than stop. Fitz declared the song the official dance party.
They played ‘Money Grabber’ and ‘Walker’ for the encore. Per Fitz’s request, everybody got low during a grand pause and waited, thighs wound up like springs, for the launch. When said launch came, everybody lost their minds.
Before the beginning of the encore, Fitz ran out and introduced mini-Fitz, his 8-month(ish)-old baby boy. Baby Fitz wore headphones as big as teacups to protect his ears and left the stage before the music started back up, but after the concert ended, both Fitz and Scaggs stopped to take pictures with some of their youngest fans.
Opening for the band was Holy Child, an indie-pop group of energetic musicians from Los Angeles. Their sound is fun and free, like a beach party where everyone pretends to be much more wholesome than they actually are. And they’re cute – think Kate Nash, with more experimenting with looping.
Their new EP, Mindspeak, dropped in March. They are working on a full-length album while they tour.
Max Frost, the soulful stud, came on next. He played groovy, neo-funk, pop songs from his debut album, Low High Low, which was released in 2013.
He slowed the set down with some rhythm and blues without sacrificing momentum when he jumped into a cover of ‘Give it to Me,’ from Rick James. He told the audience to get up and dance. Get up and dance we all did, and we didn’t sit down again until we rested our spent bodies in our various cars.
