S
suzanne
Guest
after i had played them a little of one of their albums, someone told me that belle and sebastian sounded like "good hangover music."
true. these people don't shock your nerves and urge you to turn it up to 11 as much as enticing you to imagine yourself floating away on the backs of butterflies and sliding down the rainbow and landing on a bed of ibuprofen.
since it was sunday and the last night of halloween weekend festivities, at no other time has their services been of need. we've been partying all weekend, and now, its time for someone to sing us a lullabye.
first, we were treated to a local band named Spoon. I didn't know much about them except they've had a tumultuous career of almost being famous, but as i watched this lead singer who bears a slight resemblance to Robert Redford twitch around, i realize who he thought he was:
and that person is Elvis Costello.
sure, he wasn't wearing the Buddy Holly glasses, but that's done to fool people into believing he came up with it himself. although the keyboards and his vocal stylings completely give it away.
thankfully, they left to get onto the good stuff.
the band hit the stage with an oldie from Tigermilk named "Expectations" which was a bit odd, but met with a good level of approval.
And after that point, that's when they played the first of the new tracks.
If i may be so bold, they sound pretty similar live as they do on the album. part of the reason is that they had about 4 extra violinists in the background. sure, they had beefed it up last time they came through with 3 extras, but i assumed it was to fill the gap that Isobel left when she split.
The harmonies were very tight and the sound was very full.....
...however, there is something to be said for those songs that the violinists left and it was just the band playing the old songs. i'm not moaning how its not like the old days, but it makes you realize that there is more gone than just the fly by night operation which was the band. the lyrics have grown with more of a direct edge, stuart has grown beyond writing songs about girls who sleep all day and dogs on wheels. after singing "you don't send me" he actually went on tandem discussing how that song represents what happens when relationships slowly and painfully die instead of ending quickly. this is a guy who needs a whiskey bottle and a 10 gallon hat at any second as that's just how close he is to it.
there were long, painful pauses between songs. at least that hasn't gone away. there aren't 10 guitars tuned up and waiting in the wings, but the strange thing is that there is a lot of scurrying around, but i can't figure out what it accomplishes. maybe they like having a chinese fire drill in between every song. sometimes, they knew how to fill those gaps with funnies, but at one point he said, "you are a very polite audience for a saturday night!"
and we all screamed "its sunday!"
and he seemed to understand....but we weren't completely partied out because we were very slow to warm up. and at the end of their set, enthusiasm was building on all sides and we soon forgot that it had been rainy and muggy all day and that some of us had been drinking non-stop since 6PM on friday. most of Catastrophe Waitress was played, lots of the old stuff, and nothing apparently from Storytelling. Stuart has seemed to retire a bit from being a guitarist, and is up for handling the mic solely as the lead singer, and steve jackson is singing almost as much in every song. Sarah is now having to fill the shoes of Isobel and is mostly successful, even if she doesn't know what to do with herself for half of the songs.
all in all, a nice evening out, but i can't sign off this review without giving kudos to the Backyard for actually putting in real toilets instead of the wall of porta-potties. it took them long enough, especially considering that venue had been in operation for 10 years and god knows that trying to go in a completely dark cubicle and avoid where some guy urinated all over the seat is not a joyous memory to add to your night out.
and also, a smack on the head idiot award to the people who successfully snuck a camera in...and proceded to take flash pictures with it which drew the attention of security. here's a bit of advice: if you are standing about 40 feet away from the stage, that flash isn't going to do you any good anyway, so don't needlessly give yourself away.
true. these people don't shock your nerves and urge you to turn it up to 11 as much as enticing you to imagine yourself floating away on the backs of butterflies and sliding down the rainbow and landing on a bed of ibuprofen.
since it was sunday and the last night of halloween weekend festivities, at no other time has their services been of need. we've been partying all weekend, and now, its time for someone to sing us a lullabye.
first, we were treated to a local band named Spoon. I didn't know much about them except they've had a tumultuous career of almost being famous, but as i watched this lead singer who bears a slight resemblance to Robert Redford twitch around, i realize who he thought he was:
and that person is Elvis Costello.
sure, he wasn't wearing the Buddy Holly glasses, but that's done to fool people into believing he came up with it himself. although the keyboards and his vocal stylings completely give it away.
thankfully, they left to get onto the good stuff.
the band hit the stage with an oldie from Tigermilk named "Expectations" which was a bit odd, but met with a good level of approval.
And after that point, that's when they played the first of the new tracks.
If i may be so bold, they sound pretty similar live as they do on the album. part of the reason is that they had about 4 extra violinists in the background. sure, they had beefed it up last time they came through with 3 extras, but i assumed it was to fill the gap that Isobel left when she split.
The harmonies were very tight and the sound was very full.....
...however, there is something to be said for those songs that the violinists left and it was just the band playing the old songs. i'm not moaning how its not like the old days, but it makes you realize that there is more gone than just the fly by night operation which was the band. the lyrics have grown with more of a direct edge, stuart has grown beyond writing songs about girls who sleep all day and dogs on wheels. after singing "you don't send me" he actually went on tandem discussing how that song represents what happens when relationships slowly and painfully die instead of ending quickly. this is a guy who needs a whiskey bottle and a 10 gallon hat at any second as that's just how close he is to it.
there were long, painful pauses between songs. at least that hasn't gone away. there aren't 10 guitars tuned up and waiting in the wings, but the strange thing is that there is a lot of scurrying around, but i can't figure out what it accomplishes. maybe they like having a chinese fire drill in between every song. sometimes, they knew how to fill those gaps with funnies, but at one point he said, "you are a very polite audience for a saturday night!"
and we all screamed "its sunday!"
and he seemed to understand....but we weren't completely partied out because we were very slow to warm up. and at the end of their set, enthusiasm was building on all sides and we soon forgot that it had been rainy and muggy all day and that some of us had been drinking non-stop since 6PM on friday. most of Catastrophe Waitress was played, lots of the old stuff, and nothing apparently from Storytelling. Stuart has seemed to retire a bit from being a guitarist, and is up for handling the mic solely as the lead singer, and steve jackson is singing almost as much in every song. Sarah is now having to fill the shoes of Isobel and is mostly successful, even if she doesn't know what to do with herself for half of the songs.
all in all, a nice evening out, but i can't sign off this review without giving kudos to the Backyard for actually putting in real toilets instead of the wall of porta-potties. it took them long enough, especially considering that venue had been in operation for 10 years and god knows that trying to go in a completely dark cubicle and avoid where some guy urinated all over the seat is not a joyous memory to add to your night out.
and also, a smack on the head idiot award to the people who successfully snuck a camera in...and proceded to take flash pictures with it which drew the attention of security. here's a bit of advice: if you are standing about 40 feet away from the stage, that flash isn't going to do you any good anyway, so don't needlessly give yourself away.
