On a whim, I went to see Ages and Ages at Polaris Hall in Portland friday night. I had listened to a couple of their new songs and thought they had a Portugal, the Man meets Broken Social Scene vibe. Wow, they were so much more than I had expected. Everybody but the drummer sings and there is a lot of harmonizing. I was really impressed.
After their set they walked of the stage and milled about next to the stage. After a short pause they came back up and played one of their more well known tracks "Divisionary (Do the right thing)". After finishing they walked off stage again and stood there. This venue has no backstage for the band to retire to. The singer got back on the mic and said that they hadn't prepared anything else but there was nowhere for them to go. He called out to a bunch of former members of the band that were in the audience, grabbed an acoustic guitar, and told them to meet him in the middle of the floor. The current and former members of the band met under the chandelier and performed an acoustic version of the song "No nostalgia". It was a moving experience. I think I might have been the only person in the audience that didn't know the words because everybody else joined in and sang their hearts out.
I know this picture doesn't do justice to the moment but it was an incredible experience and I'm glad I got to witness it.