Throughout every genre of music, fans like to think about what would happen if their heroes were to collaborate. From The Traveling Wilburys and Monsters of Folk to Damn Yankees, these collaborations have varying degrees of success. Broken Bells is the latest project from two of pop music’s favorite sons. The core of Broken Bells is the lead singer of indie darlings The Shins, James Mercer and Grammy-award winning producer Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton. Burton has worked with a laundry list of amazing acts including Beck, Gorillaz, The Black Keys, Gnarls Barkley and MF DOOM. He has been nominated for 11 Grammy awards and a slew of other awards and accolades for his production skills. He is probably best known for his infamous project known as The Grey Album, a mashup of Jay Z’s The Black Album and the Beatles’ The Beatles (aka The White Album ). James Mercer is known primarily for his work with seminal indie group The Shins. One of the most popular and critically acclaimed band of the 00’s, The Shins managed to be highly successful yet remain firmly in the alt-pop/rock underground. These two creative powerhouses started collaborating in 2009 and the results of these sessions are what the two musical heavyweights have been touring with since their eponymous debut album was released.

Mercer and Burton, backed by a full band, brought their latest project to the Fox Theater in Oakland. The Fox in Oakland, like its counterparts in St. Louis and Atlanta, is, simply put, one of the most gorgeous venues in the Bay Area. The lush red velvet and large statues on either side of the stage fit the lush arrangements of Broken Bells perfectly. The band came on a little late and dove right in with the track “October.” The five piece band managed to capture the sound of the album perfectly. Mercer’s high plaintive croon meshes perfectly with the intricate psychedelia of Burton’s arrangements. The sound in the newly renovated theater is amazing and Broken Bells had the theater rocking for the entire set. Burton started off the night on keyboards and then shifted to drums then guitar and back to keyboards. A true multi-instrumentalist, Burton was constantly moving around the stage to provide whatever each song called for. Mercer played guitar and took care of the lead vocal duties throughout the night, as well as providing the obligatory stage banter. Their set was comprised of the entire album and a couple of cover songs. The band tore through the opening numbers, fleshing out the album into a sonic tapestry that was at the same time, ornate and sparse. Burton’s production and arrangements of the songs were haunting and lyrical, a perfect complement for Mercer’s poetic words.

As the band dove deeper into the album, they took a detour into one of Danger Mouse’s previous projects, Sparklehorse. The song “ Insane Lullaby” was dedicated to the deceased frontman of that band, Mark Linkous. The crowd began swaying and dancing finally breaking into movement when the opening notes of “The High Road” rang out. The up tempo number is one of the highlights of the album and translated well to the stage and the crowd responded with enthusiastic cheering and dancing. Unfortunately, after just a handful more songs, four to be exact, the set ended. Of course, with only one album together, a two or three hour show is out of the range of possibility but the set still felt very brief. It didn’t seem forced or hurried but the crowd was a little taken aback by how quickly it ended. After a good five or seven minutes and wild cheering from the audience, they strode back onto the stage for what would be a four song encore. Mercer announced they would be playing,”a song by our friends The Black Keys” but warned us that he didn’t have the guitar chops that Dan Auerbach has. as the crowd chuckled appreciatively. After the cover, “Everlasting Light,” the guys played the remaining three cuts off the album. On the final tune of the evening, “The Mall & The Misery” the band drifted into what was, for them, a final jam. As the lyrics ended and the band vamped on the chord changes, Mercer and Burton, met at the front of the stage, took a bow and exited together smiling and happy with the performance. The rest of the band kept on jamming for a couple more minutes and as the last of the effects-drenched chords reverberated around the theater, the remaining members followed them off.

The entire set clocked in at a little over an hour. The brevity of the set was the only thing that could possibly be considered a low point. When you are used to three hour long Furthur shows, most bands are going to fall short in the time category. The songs off the album are amazing and to the band’s credit, they pulled off the intricate string parts and reverb-drenched arrangements immaculately. Quite a few bands make great studio albums but turn in lackluster performances. Broken Bells is not one of those bands. The two minds behind the project translated the album beautifully and put on an amazing show. They have announced that a new album is forthcoming and it would be to your benefit to check these guys out. Broken Bells has been ientified by many critics as one of the best albums of the year and the show was just as strong as the album itself.