Bear Mountain @ Imperial -- 10/28/16

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I haven't been to a Hallowe'en party in a couple years (not that I have anything against it, just happenstance) but when The Peak throws a spooky party at the Imperial featuring Bear Mountain, no way I was going to miss it.
There were costumes galore ready to dance and party, including pickles and tacos, Broad City girls, literal dinosaur hunters, the cast of The Walking Dead, The Notorious R.B.G. (Ruth Bader Ginsburg), one of those big inflatable T-Rex things, and one really lazy Captain Hammer costume that was clearly just a shirt the guy owned and regularly wore.
(That last one was me)

The four-piece indie rockers Little India opened up the show, dressed as a pair of famous duos, Doc & Marty and Wayne & Garth. I only caught the tail end of their set, upbeat indie-rock getting everyone in the party mood. 

After a lengthy break where they DJ spun spooky and/or dancey songs, Bear Mountain took the stage, in front of a screen and large triangular light fixture. One of the coolest things about their live show is their visuals are always changing; the fourth member of the band Kenji Rodriguez actually does some of the lighting on the fly, giving it a spontaneous feel. 
They kicked off their portion of the party with "Congo" and the bouncy "Hopeful" never slowing the momentum of their indie-electro-dance-rock. Frequently getting people to clap along and showering the crowd with confetti, frontman Ian Bevis along with his brother Greg and Kyle Statham poured out loads of energy on stage.
Highlights included older songs like the genre-defying "Two Step" and "Faded", as well as tracks off their newer album, like the mostly-instrumental title-track "Badu" and the punchy "Show Up To Fight". There were also a couple that Ian mentioned were brand new, possibly already hard at work on the next album?
They came to a close with "See You Through" but the crowd was hungry for more. And of course they obliged, with a couple more songs including their great cover of Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World".

It was a fear of mine before the show that since it was a Hallowe'en party, there would be more people concerned with partying than Bear Mountain. But I shouldn't have worried, because even if there was, the band converted them to jumping masses. Bear Mountain has always been an incredibly fun live show, and add the atmosphere of spooky decorations and costumes, made for the best way to spend Hallowe'en.