Scenestar

ARTICLE BY JOY SHI

JUNE 22 | POMONA—As I stepped inside the Glass House on Saturday, I sensed what lay ahead. En route to watch Father John Misty perform, I knew shenanigans might be involved—and covertly hoped for as much. The last time I saw Josh Tillman—the man behind the Father John Misty moniker and ex-drummer for the celestial folk band Fleet Foxes—was at Coachella 2013. I caught only the beginning of his set, but it was enough to leave an impression. Mentally, I was braced for the shock.

At 9:20 p.m., the disco ball dangling above the antsy audience lit up, and just like that, I spotted Father John Misty at the exit near the bar. Seconds later, he strode onstage. "What's up, Bonnaroo?! I don't know what's going on," he observed dryly before launching into a song. It was evident from the countless stories I’d read, heard, or watched online that whether you belong to the camp that praises or condemns Father John Misty, the general consensus is that the man has a memorable stage presence.

As I watched him gripping his face and microphone in anguish to flipping off the general direction of the Hollywood sign (as he cried, "Look out, Hollywood, here I come!") and basking in a song's final, clamorous moments ("I'm just gonna walk about this thing in an anticlimatic way and talk about cell phones."), I was certainly convinced. Father John Misty proved to be a credible rock star. But more importantly, he proved to be just who everyone says he is: sardonic, irreverent, and whimsical. Likened to a hip-loose lounge singer with a penchant for tapping his noggin, he is nothing short of the charmer of our generation. He moves through life as he moves across the stage—like an amateur ballroom dancer, with the breezy, unaffected air of a world-class champion.

Antics aside, Father John Misty and his five-piece band performed a solid set, complete with two new songs and a scintillating cover of the Beatles's "Happiness Is a Warm Gun." During his one-hour performance, he had the crowd tickled with amusement—from his impassioned dancing to his f**k it, anything goes commentary. He does all this flippantly and effortlessly, because Father John Misty doesn't try to charm—he simply is charming.

This electric energy might obscure a deeply observant, thoughtful, and maybe even wistful man underneath. I'm sure these adjectives don't aptly describe Josh Tillman, but I’ll put them forth nonetheless. I'll also vouch for the obvious: Listening to his album Fear Fun in the privacy of your home is an entirely different experience from watching Father John Misty live. For example, throughout the night, he was particularly fond of sweeping the mic stand off the floor and punching it skywards. The recently released music video for "Funtimes in Babylon," however, depicts Father John Misty dancing alone atop a bus on a preserved movie set in L.A. It's the kind of thing you observe and don’t question—it's just who he is. There is a wide range of emotions you may experience with Father John Misty; he can make you laugh, cry, and ponder—depending on the setting in which you see him.

As the show came to its close, Father John Misty took a moment to look forward. In the midst of a full-fledged North American tour, he seemed ambivalently bleak about his summer. "It's not John Steinbeck's America out there anymore," he reflected. "I travel a lot. It's traumatizing." America, if you’re looking to escape the hell of your own trauma this summer, get out there and catch Father John Misty live. You may just find some answers you didn’t even know you were looking for.

Father John Misty will headline the Wiltern in November. Click here for details.