6 Best Moments From Tame Impala’s Deadbeat Tour Opener in Brooklyn

“As you might know, this is the first night of the tour,” Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker told a buzzing, sold-out crowd at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Monday night. “That means it’s a pretty epic night, and there was nowhere more epic to kick this whole shit off than New York City, obviously.

“That [also] means anything can happen,” the Aussie psych-rocker-turned-arena-star continued. “And by that, I mean for the better, but also anything can fall apart at any moment – just so you know.”

Improbably, Tame Impala has become one of modern rock’s biggest live draws. But its catalog is littered with insecurity and loneliness – from 2010 breakout single “Solitude Is Bliss” to beloved 2012 album Lonerism to “Loser,” now a Hot 100 hit from the just-released new album Deadbeat – and even after headlining festivals, producing a Dua Lipa album, and winning a Grammy, Tame mastermind Kevin Parker still clearly has some imposter syndrome.

Five albums in, Tame Impala now has a large enough catalog that tough setlist choices must be made; always known for lasers and confetti, its stage production is more complex than ever, with far more audio and visual components to possibly malfunction. And prior to Barclays on Monday, Tame Impala hadn’t played a proper headlining show in two-and-a-half years.

But Parker – outside of a mildly worn voice he attributed during the encore to an unspecified ailment – had little to worry about. Critics haven’t embraced Deadbeat in the same way as the band’s past projects, but fans greeted freshly minted hits “Dracula” and “Loser” nearly as rapturously as Tame standards like “Let It Happen” and “The Less I Know The Better.” The excitement extended to other Deadbeat material (the setlist featured 10 of its 12 tracks), which the audience responded to even more than cuts from Tame’s first two acclaimed albums, Innerspeaker and Lonerism. The band’s stage production, meanwhile, was more elaborate than ever, while still channeling the colorful, psychedelic aesthetic that’s always been its calling card.

“The only one who’s really judging you is yourself – nobody else,” Parker sings on Innerspeaker deep cut “Alter Ego,” an unexpected inclusion on Monday’s setlist. As the dance-oriented Deadbeat‘s mixed reception has proven, that’s no longer quite true, at least for Parker. But the Barclays crowd on Monday was clearly in his thrall – as those at the next three shows Tame Impala has planned at the venue this week will also surely be.

Here are some of the best moments from Tame Impala’s first Deadbeat show – and when you’re done with that, here’s the complete setlist.

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