Battles played Astoria

It had been a while since I had seen a show so I was particularly excited tonight when I went to see Battles. Mirrored was one of my favorite albums of last year so I couldn't wait to see these tracks live.
The opening acts were also something I was looking forward to seeing. British band Fuck Buttons opened the show and I must say these guys were as impressive as they could be considering the way in which these guys make music. There is only so much two guys mixing sonic sounds of swirling samples can accomplish in a live act, yet these guys were pretty good. They mixed stuff up and had some really killer beats that got the crowd moving. Overall I was left with the same feeling I get off their record. These guys build some killer sound, but it doesn't seem to go anyway. I keep waiting for it to peak and it never quite does. Still I was impressed with what I saw.
Originally Liars was supposed to take the second slot, but they had to back out in order to open for Radiohead. Instead they were replaced with Dirty Projectors, a band I knew nothing about. Even now after seeing them I'm not too sure what to think. I was not sure what I was supposed to walk away with afterwards. They had some great female harmonies, a eccentric drum with some really awesome beats, and a guitar player that jumped all over the stage. In the end I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to take away from the performance. It seemed as if too much was going on for me to really be able to take in the band as a whole.
When Battles took the stage I was in complete awe. Their recordings are such intricate works of art that I was unsure of how they would translate live, but I was anything but disappointed. They were one of the tightest bands I have ever seen and performed more like a well-oiled machine then a band. Just watching them was amazing let a lone the sounds they were producing. They started things off a little slowly, but eventually built things up and had the place rocking. From the time "Rainbow" came out of the speakers until the end the place didn't stop rocking.