Grizzly Bear + Beach House @ The Roundhouse 14 March

I will confess that when I set out for the Grizzly Bear gig at the Roundhouse on Sunday night it was the dusky, dreamy tones of support band Beach House that I was most excited about. And they didn't disappoint, not for a second. From the opening notes in front of four glowing, bubble-wrap-covered cones, their set was a cohesive ball of sound and I was completely enveloped. Through the gorgeous vintage of ‘Lover of Mine’ and the massive kick and slide guitar of ‘Norway’, all spun around Victoria Legrand's husky smooth vocals, there was barely a spare brain cell to use to lift my glass to my mouth I was so preoccupied with contentedness. I know the vocal comparison to Joni Mitchell has been made and made but it's really quite uncanny and highly distinctive, like honey through a cheese grater. ‘Silver Soul’ was another dramatic highlight, enhanced by giant drums and almost chant-like singing at end from other band members. ‘10 Mile Stereo’ brought red lights from the covered cones as the railway train drumming drove the song to a thrilling ending and I could finally come round and drink my pint. At this point I was already feeling justified in ignoring my gas bill to pay for the ticket but things were about to get even better.

On a stage decked out with tiny electric lanterns that looked like candles in jam jars, Grizzly Bear swept everyone away from Camden to the fields of a summer festival or the porch of a southern homestead on a hot, dusky night. I've no idea how they did that. I wasn't drunk enough to be hallucinating and I stayed well away from the Jaegerbombs. Nevertheless, I was quite bowled over. The journey through the emotive harmonies of ‘Fine For Now’ and the almost choral ‘Two Weeks,’ via the lava lamp Beatlesy vocals of ‘The Knife’ was certainly one of my best gig experiences in a while. The calm of 'Lullabye' built through the "chin up cheer up" chorus to a crescendo that, live, was quite spine tingling. Big drum. Big guitar. Lights up. Massive goosebumps. 'Deep Blue Sea' was another favourite five minutes. With the subtle strings and the whistling against those little lanterns, I wouldn’t have been surprised to turn around to find myself about to fall into a Hawaiian hammock. I think my very best moment though was ‘Slow Life’ with Victoria Legrand - like lying flat out on an electric beach being washed over by waves of incapacitatingly uplifting sound.

I don’t know if it’s because the Grizzly Bear sound is best heard live and this was my first time or whether someone slipped me a Mickey but I came away feeling like an overexcited first timer. And having spent time and money hovering around gigs wishing the band would pull their finger out and move me - at the risk of sounding like a credit card advert – that’s absolutely priceless.