Beach House Brings New Album to Chicago

With streamers of shiny connected pom-poms stretching from the top of the curtain to the stage floor and diamond-shaped, sequined piñatas hanging behind them, Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand of Beach House, along with touring drummer Daniel Franz, walked on stage at the Metro in Chicago Friday night to a raucous sold out crowd.

Drawing mainly from their critically acclaimed new album 'Teen Dream,' fans didn't seem to mind the lack of older songs in Beach House's set, cheering loudly and bopping their heads along to songs like 'Walk In The Park,' 'Better Times' and 'Lover of Mine.' Legrand's atmospheric vocals were truly the highlight of Beach House's entire set, especially during 'Norway,' which got the crowd cheering as soon as Legrand's breathy vocals and Scally's brooding guitar rang out together in unison. Legrand thrashed her curly locks back and forth as fans swayed and sang along.

"This song marks the R-rated portion of the evening," said Scally halfway through their set, introducing 'Silver Soul.' The adult theme continued throughout the rest of the show, with Legrand and Scally touching upon the warm Chicago weather and palpable excitement in the air. "We can really feel the Friday and spring energy that's happening out there. It's intense," said Scally. "It's baby-making time," added Legrand, and the crowd cheered in agreement.

Stirring renditions of 'Zebra' and 'Take Care' ended the first part of Beach House's set, and they disappeared for less than a minute before running back out on stage for their encore. "Even though it's Friday night, you might have to pretend it's Sunday night for the next four minutes," said Scally, introducing 'Real Love,' another 'Teen Dream' track. Legrand manipulated her howling vocals perfectly, and cheers rang out from fans as she delivered each inspiring high note.

'10 Mile Stereo' closed out the evening, with Scally's swirling shoegaze riffs inspiring the majority of the crowd to dance wildly, waving their arms from side to side and shaking their shoulders. It's not often that a band's new album is so good that fans cheer louder for the new songs than the old ones. But when the album in question is Beach House's 'Teen Dream,' it's only fitting.

Beach House on AOL Music