Kevin Bronson on November 4th, 2009

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After opening their set at the Gibson Amphitheatre on Tuesday night with 25 furious minutes of songs bathed in distorted bliss, Silversun Pickups took a breather. It was great to be home, acknowledged frontman Brian Aubert, beaming, and then he name-checked a string of Los Angeles clubs who helped nurture his quartet’s slow growth over this decade: the Silverlake Lounge, Spaceland, the Troubadour, the Echo, and so on.

It was too bad SSPU’s homecoming show – their first proper L.A. show since the release, way back in April, of its sophomore album “Swoon” – couldn’t have felt a little more homey. The antiseptic Gibson, situated astride that monument to crass commerce, the Universal CityWalk, swallowed some of the Pickups’ nuances – Aubert’s guitar effects, keyboardist Joe Lester’s textures – like an overpriced drink. And it was a disconnect that the day’s music was part of an event called “LA 101” – which, strangely, featured sets from non-Angelenos the Dandy Warhols and Matt & Kim. Can’t wait for “LA: Graduate Level.”

Those qualms aside, Silversun Pickups played like a band that’s all grown up now. Road tested by overseas tours, festival dates and a recent month-and-a-half stretch in which they played 33 dates, SSPU no longer is the Little Band That Could – they are a Big Band That Does. Their 90-minute-plus set was tight and focused and power-packed, seamlessly fusing the newer, lushly orchestrated material from “Swoon” with the more jagged stuff from 2006’s “Carnavas.”

Aubert, a terror wielding his guitar, was a creampuff when showered with adulation from the crowd up front. “This might sound like a little bit cheeseball …,” he said. “We’ve been waiting so long to say these words: Hello, Los Angeles.” He asked that the house lights be turned up so he could admire the admirers. Later, he sheepishly apologized for false-starting the band’s biggest hit, “Lazy Eye,” which, with the “Swoon” single “Panic Switch,” SSPU saved until near the end of the set. And while those songs sounded huge, you’ll forgive an old follower for longing for the days when Silversun Pickups’ sound actually hurt a little bit.

They ended with “Common Reactor,” the secret-weapon finisher from “Carnavas.” There, in its crackling, feedback-drenched glory, is Silversun Pickups’ true home: beautiful disquietude.

Photo by Timothy Norris