I really like The Shins. In fact, they are one of my favorite bands to listen to. So it is quite disappointing for me to write a review that is not overwhelmingly positive. But the fact is that, in my opinion, their music doesn't make for a fun live show. Don't get me wrong--the performance of their songs was excellent. The sounded very good, there were no detectable mistakes in the vocals, drums, guitar, bass, or keyboards. All of that was quite good. But I thought the choice of songs was odd--too many slow tempo, dreamy songs (of course a lot of their songs are of that sort--more on this in a moment). And I thought the band lacked that certain something--stage presence, or charisma. The show was simply boring. My wife actually started falling asleep (she likes their music too).
After the show, I was trying to pin down what was wrong with it. And the conclusion I've reached is that their music is simply too atmospheric to make for an entertaining show, no matter how well played. So, I've given the show 3 stars--it would score higher on quality of performance (from a musical/technical standpoint, anyway), but lower on entertainment. So split the difference and call it average.