Although I’ve been listening to Stereolab pretty consistently since the 90s, I somehow never managed to see them live until now. I’ve always appreciated this band’s quirky song names, retro vibe, mesmerizing jams and vocal counterpoint.
Stereolab’s 2025 album Instant Holograms on Metal Film, their first in 15 years, is one of their strongest. It’s extremely rare for a band of this longevity to put out a great album, perfectly fitting into the repertoire and even improving it. After enjoying the new album and having missed them at Roadrunner in 2022, I was elated to find them playing at Royale. It’s my favorite club venue in Boston — big enough to not feel cramped but small enough to make every performance feel intimate.
Opener MEMORIALS was entertaining and, at moments, great. They have a strong Stereolab vibe and received a warm reception from the crowd, though they definitely take the spacy jams to another level, resulting in multiple extended periods of interesting, if not terribly musical, noise. The highlight for me was “Cut It Like a Diamond”. The giant woofers at Royale really took the pounding sub-bass in that song to the next level, while still keeping it real.
Stereolab burned through a fantastic set list, included below for your listening pleasure. It was an early Friday night set, and Lætitia Sadier complained about having a hard stop at 9:30. But it didn’t keep her from rocking the trombone across three songs and taking their time with some extended jams.
Bonus: My favorite Stereolab song is a deep cut from 1992’s Switched On, “Changer”.
