Concert Reviews
Tame Impala’s history in Boston only continues to crescendo.
Kevin Parker of Tame Impala. Courtesy Photo
July 29, 2026 | 1:04 PM
4 minutes to read
Every visit that Australian psych outfit Tame Impala has paid to Boston has reflected both a graduation of venue and an evolution of sound.
This seems like a basic and logical progression, but it’s not often, especially in the modern music landscape, that the trajectory looks so linear on paper. The project of songwriter Kevin Parker made its first Boston trip in November of 2010 on the heels of their highly-praised debut Innerspeaker, playing The Paradise to a modest but instantly-converted crowd. Two years later they were back at Royale to support their commercial breakout Lonerism, notching one of Boston’s most momentous shows of the fall of 2012. By 2019, the band was commanding the main stage at Boston Calling, proving that their adoption of a more synth-forward sound on Currents could win over a robust festival crowd. March of 2022 saw their first trip to TD Garden to show that their ever-expanding brand of electronic psych could find a home in arenas. Tuesday night, the band kicked off its first of two sold out nights back at the Garden and proved that the buzz has only continued to grow and that arenas are a perfect home for it.
The Boston crowd showed up early to welcome back opener Djo, the project of Newburyport native Joe Keery, known to many as the face of Steve Harrington from Stranger Things. Keery and his band ripped through an impressive set of glossified retro rockers off of his latest, 2025’s The Crux. Chorus-pedal fueled single “Delete You” was a set standout, as was the piano-forward Nilsson-esque “Charlie’s Garden” and angular funk-rocker “Basic Being Basic”.
Parker and his bandmates rose to a unique setup that brought nightclub intimacy to the sold out Garden, with a 360-degree stage set midcourt. This was an immediately engaging twist on the normal stage orientation at Garden shows, providing something of a beat laboratory for the band and allowing Parker to circulate the stage while providing great sightlines throughout the venue. Opening tune “Apocalypse Dreams” was an instant injection of layers of reverb, filling the room with the combination of deep swells of piano and Parker’s falsetto. “Borderline” was as great a point of contrast as any, highlighting the journey from psychedelic and prog elements from Parker’s early catalog to the disco-fueled singles of recent years. The Slow Rush hit was an early crowd favorite, especially paired with another one of the album’s highlights, “Breathe Deeper” which kept the crowd in the claws of its club beats.
Vintage rocker “Elephant,” the band’s breakout hit from Lonerism, gave Parker the opportunity to bring his vocals down an octave, bringing John Lennon charm to the brawny chug of guitars. The rock influence of that era continued with “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards,” a song whose chorus felt as close to a singalong as any throughout the night. Single “Dracula” helped provide a welcome entry from the group’s latest full-length, October’s Deadbeat.
After a brief transition, Parker re-emerged for a couple of songs from a smaller, lamp-lit sidestage, offering two of the more house-influenced numbers from the new album: “Ethereal Connection” and “Not My World.” The cross-section of house music and psychedelic music is an interesting one, offering ambient textures over a solid canvas of 808-style beats. While vocals were more sparse for these songs, they were two great examples of this delicate balance, and was a special moment particularly for the general admission portion of the audience. Leadoff Currents tracks “Let It Happen” and “Nangs” sustained the energy as Parker found his way back to the main stage. Opener Djo was welcomed back, both by Parker and by a rousing reception by his fellow Bay Staters in the crowd, to help Tame Impala with Deadbeat’s “Loser.” Keery, who appeared in the music video for the song, helped extend it into a “Mind Melt” tease—an instrumental jam has found its way into live sets since the Lonersim era. Currents favorites “Eventually” and “New Person, Same Old Mistake” sustained the danceable energy and provided a set-closing punch.
The vocal and instrumental dynamic in Tame Impala is at times a fragile one, and one that, in an improper setup, could be entirely washed out in an arena atmosphere. The band and production crew was able to not only avoid this, but lean into it throughout the night, with a mix that let the rhythm section cut through with sharpness while the reverb of Parker’s provided a ribbon-y texture that offered steady melody with a greater focus on setting a vibe than making every lyric resonate. This was represented beautifully in an encore of “My Old Ways,” “The Less I Know The Better,” and “Endless Summer.” The second of these songs was a highlight of the evening, with the crowd responding excitedly to the bass-driven main riff and the closer provided a slow-burning dose of club-kid pop to punctuate the evening.
Tame Impala’s show proved their worthiness of a multi-night run at Boston’s largest room and was a promising signal that they’re here to stay. Moreover, it was a fascinating exploration of how arena rock has evolved, both in its sound and the way that it’s complimented by visuals, theatrics, and production. The band brought out strobes, lasers, and a halo of lights and screens that would loom above them during some songs and sink down to cover them in others, simultaneously juxtaposing a larger-than-life rock god visage with a feeling of Boiler Room-style ambiance where everyone is included in the party. At times, Parker performed to the camera, creating almost a live music video on the jumbotron, and at others, he treated the stage as if he were back at The Paradise in the band’s early days. The experience was immersive throughout, and showed that Tame Impala’s history in Boston only continues to crescendo.
Setlist for Tame Impala at TD Garden, July 28, 2026:
- Apocalypse Dreams
- Deadbeat Jam
- Borderline
- Breathe Deeper
- Gossip
- Elephant
- Afterthought
- Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
- Dracula
- No Reply
- Ethereal Connection (Parker on side stage)
- Not My World (Parker on side stage)
- Let It Happen
- Nangs
- Loser (with Djo) (‘Mind Melt’ outro)
- List of People (To Try and Forget About)
- Piece of Heaven
- Eventually
- New Person, Same Old Mistakes
Encore:
- My Old Ways
- The Less I Know the Better
- End of Summer
Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
