concerts of late

Lars Damerow — Wed, 02 May 2007 00:22:00 -0400

I just got home from seeing Andrew Bird at the Fillmore. The show was outstanding—I could actually see him this time, unlike the last two shows of his I saw (at the Great American Music Hall and the execrable 12 Galaxies). The layers that he and Martin Dosh can get going with those samplers is really amazing, and watching him hurriedly switch from violin to guitar to glockenspiel and back again floors me every time I see it.

I am, of course, intensely jealous of that kind of talent.

Last week Andrea and I caught the Decemberists at the Warfield. It took a little coaxing to get her to go, but she really enjoyed it. They played songs from all of their albums, opening with “California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade” which is one of Andrea’s favorites. During the last song, “The Chimbley Sweep”, the band stopped playing and jumped into the crowd, only to be replaced moments later by a couple of kids from the audience. I don’t know if it was staged or not, but the crowd pretty much lost it when one of the kids grabbed Colin Meloy’s guitar and performed the rest of the song himself. He looked like a deer in the headlights before he did it, faced down by the expectant stares of the whole Warfield crowd, but he really pulled it off. If it wasn’t a setup, that kid is going to remember it for the rest of his life.

super-good!: Tag decemberists

concerts of late