Ra Ra Riot at The Wellmont Theatre (12/08/08)

Photos: Jon Klemm

Ra Ra Riot took to the stage on Monday night at The Wellmont Theatre before a packed house of friends, family and adoring teens (and many of their parents I’m sure). While the majority of the audience members were probably there for headliners Vampire Weekend, the crowd gave a loud roar when lead singer Wes Miles shouted out, “We’re Ra Ra Riot, do you know that?” Despite being a “Syracuse” band, Ra Ra Riot has deep roots in the Montclair area, especially Miles who attended nearby Glen Ridge High School (which garnered another large round of applause) along with his good friend and former band mate Ezra Koenig. From my point of view (up above), the audience didn’t seem to be that well versed with the RRR catalog, but by the time they got around to “Winter ’05”, I noticed more than a few heads in the audience starting to bop. Also, “Can You Tell”, which they recently performed on David Letterman, got a nice instant nod of recognition from the crowd. This band thrives on the stage, and despite some sound glitches by the in-house staff, it was a solid outing before what may have been (?) their biggest US audience to date.

Ra Ra Riot Set List (The Wellmont Theatre – 12/08/08)
Each Year
St. Peter’s Day Festival
Oh La
Winter ’05
Run My Mouth
Can You Tell
Suspended In Gaffa
Ghost Under Rocks
Too Too Too Fast
Dying Is Fine

More pictures and tour dates after the jump.

Ra Ra Riot 2009 Tour Dates
Dec 12 2008 Exit/In Nashville, TN # *
Dec 13 2008 40 Watt Club Athens, GA # *
Dec 14 2008 Grey Eagle Asheville, NC # *
Dec 16 2008 Ottobar Baltimore, MD# *
Mar 08 2009 Langerado Music Festival Miami, Florida
Mar 10 2009 The Parish at House of Blues w/ Tokyo Police Club New Orleans, Louisiana
Mar 11 2009 Walter’s on Washington w/ Tokyo Police Club Houston, Texas
Mar 12 2009 Cine El Rey w/ Tokyo Police Club McAllen, Texas
Mar 13 2009 The White Rabbit w/ Tokyo Police Club San Antonio, Texas
Mar 14 2009 Granada Theatre w/ Tokyo Police Club Dallas, Texas
Mar 16 2009 Slowdown w/ Tokyo Police Club Omaha, Nebraska
# with So Many Dynamos
* with Princeton