The Shins at The Warfield

Singer/songwriter James Mercer’s band The Shins played the Warfield in San Francisco on July 12th, kicking off 21st Birthday Tour for their critically-acclaimed debut record, Oh, Inverted World. Despite a slew of lineup changes in the past decade, Mercer and co. sounded as sharp as ever, tearing through the album’s 11 tunes, then launching into a greatest-hits set of a dozen more songs–including a cover of Stone Temple Pilot’s “Vaseline” (?!) and a bit of Tom Petty’s “American Girl.”
Folk rock sister trio Joseph–reduced to a duo due to sister Allison Closner’s appendicitis the day before–opened the show, with sisters Meegan and Natalie joining the Shins on backing vocals for several songs.