Andrew Bird Show!
We went to see Andrew Bird on Friday night, and it was fun, which was no surprise. Missed those of you who were there, and those of you who weren't, in various ways, but I hope everyone had a good time wherever they were.
Mr. Bird has gotten a lot of press in the past couple of years, about his great records on one hand, and his cool live approach on the other. Using loop pedals is not unique to him (Joseph Arthur, Kid Beyond, and Jon Brion, whom I like, also do it), but this was the first time I've seen more than one person on stage using these tools. His main partner, Martin Dosh, is also way into this stuff, playing drums, Rhodes, beatboxes and stuff. Jeremy Ylvisaker, while he didn't do loops as far as I could tell, played bass, guitar, and baritone guitar. So everyone had plenty to do.
There's also the Janus Horn, whose name I didn't know until tonight. It spun around at various times, and probably modified the sound considerably, but in a hall that big, with everything pretty loud, I really couldn't tell. It certainly looked cool, though.
I expected to enjoy the music, and I did. About 2/3 of the way through I was really starting to feel carried away by the whole thing; I just gave myself over to the rich sounds. Closing my eyes was helpful for this. The lighting looked very nice, BUT, there was a row of motorized, very bright lights behind the performers that frequently pointed out into the audience, and were utterly blinding. It was painful to look anywhere near the stage while those things were on.
The biggest surprise to me was the mistakes, of which there were many. They weren't huge, just little things like having to start one song over again, and small glitches where the last song's loops were still running, stuff like that. I thought this was great, that they're doing all this loop stuff which could indicate a lack of spontaneity, but they're taking chances and open to stumbling a bit publicly. Which is not to say they weren't rehearsed, they were definitely tight, they just left room to improvise. Improvisation involves the possibility of failure, or at least some hiccups, and I like to see that.
Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and you don't have to be a nerdy musician to dig it. So thanks to carpetofstars to getting me into this guy in the first place. I blame you, woman! Also, thanks to erasbernsteib for reminding me to get the tickets.
Mr. Bird has gotten a lot of press in the past couple of years, about his great records on one hand, and his cool live approach on the other. Using loop pedals is not unique to him (Joseph Arthur, Kid Beyond, and Jon Brion, whom I like, also do it), but this was the first time I've seen more than one person on stage using these tools. His main partner, Martin Dosh, is also way into this stuff, playing drums, Rhodes, beatboxes and stuff. Jeremy Ylvisaker, while he didn't do loops as far as I could tell, played bass, guitar, and baritone guitar. So everyone had plenty to do.
There's also the Janus Horn, whose name I didn't know until tonight. It spun around at various times, and probably modified the sound considerably, but in a hall that big, with everything pretty loud, I really couldn't tell. It certainly looked cool, though.
I expected to enjoy the music, and I did. About 2/3 of the way through I was really starting to feel carried away by the whole thing; I just gave myself over to the rich sounds. Closing my eyes was helpful for this. The lighting looked very nice, BUT, there was a row of motorized, very bright lights behind the performers that frequently pointed out into the audience, and were utterly blinding. It was painful to look anywhere near the stage while those things were on.
The biggest surprise to me was the mistakes, of which there were many. They weren't huge, just little things like having to start one song over again, and small glitches where the last song's loops were still running, stuff like that. I thought this was great, that they're doing all this loop stuff which could indicate a lack of spontaneity, but they're taking chances and open to stumbling a bit publicly. Which is not to say they weren't rehearsed, they were definitely tight, they just left room to improvise. Improvisation involves the possibility of failure, or at least some hiccups, and I like to see that.
Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and you don't have to be a nerdy musician to dig it. So thanks to carpetofstars to getting me into this guy in the first place. I blame you, woman! Also, thanks to erasbernsteib for reminding me to get the tickets.