Neon Indian @ Union Transfer.

Text and images by Chris Fascenelli.

By the time Neon Indian frontman Alan Palomo took the stage Union Transfer on Sunday, the venue was packed front to back.

On his first trip back to Philly in at least 3 years, Palomo told the crowd, “We’re off to China next but this was absolutely the best way to end our domestic run.”

From there, he had the crowd locked in. He started off with a few hits off his new album,VEGA INTL. Night School, which dropped last month, including “Annie,” “Slumlord” and “Street.” He then touched on classics and crowd favorites like “Terminally Chill” and, in the encore, “Polish Girl.”

“The tour has been great,” Palomo said after the show. “I mean, honestly, after what would’ve been a 3 year hiatus, we’re just jumping back into it, trying to get acclimated. This was the first domestic run. From here, we go to Asia, spend a few weeks there, go to Japan for a week. We’ve been working on the album for 4 years. Some of the demos I wrote in the fall of 2011- just as the last one was coming out. I lost my laptop and had to start from scratch. But I managed to finish in June of this year.”

Explorer Tapes opened the show.