This is a twee lover's wet dream.
The pairing of New Pornographers and Belle & Sebastian in one convenient bill makes the inner twee indie nerd in us shout with glee. Although not a great a pairing as when Bright Eyes supported Belle & Sebastian, this bill nonetheless guaranteed the audience members hours of dancing and sing alongs.
New Pornographers started off first at around 8:30pm in what was an already packed Nokia Theatre. This rather new venue in New York is pretty nice, with acoustics that are top notch and a seating configuration that pretty much guaranteed there's no bad view in the house. Think of the Warfield as a reference, but without the huge overhang seating area above.
I forgot most of the songs that New Pornographers played, but songs that did stand out include "Twin Cinemas," "Testament to Youth in Verse" and "The Jessica Numbers." They even did an improptu rendition of that 80's classic, "Eye of the Tiger" which Mr. Newman sang parts of. Overall, New Pornographers were very entertaining not only with the songs but with Newman's banter with the audience. For example, while some of the band members were tuning their instruments, Newman said that he's going to check messages on his phone. Or when Newman said that he just recently moved to Brooklyn, a lot of people began yelling out even more specific questions . . . which can only be interpreted as rabid fans wanting to stalk the poor boy. Neko Case wasn't present for this performance, but her absence was hardly felt.
Belle & Sebastian then came on around 10:30pm. They opened up with "Expectations" which was a weird choice. I'd rather would have heard "Acts of the Apostle I" or something, but it was nice nonetheless. Stuart was wearing a white buttoned up shirt, rather than his customary (or somewhat customary) two sizes too small white Fred Perry and cap. Stevie was once again dressed in a suit. The other band members, like Chris and Mick, didn't look so bad either.
My friends and I were in the slightly elevated standing area towards the back of the theatre. Hence, the crappy looking picture you see above. Nobody in our area was dancing until *we* started the dance party! I think the party really started when Belle & Sebastian played "Your Cover's Blown". That's when our little area blew up. Granted, "Electric Renaissance" and "Blues are Still Blue" had some minor dancing involved (even though I was dancing full blast), but the sheer surprise of them playing "Your Cover's Blown" did everyone in.
They also played a little bit of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'". Newman of the New Pornographers told the crowd to encourage B&S to play that song, and so they did. Not the full rendition but just some parts of it.
Overall, B&S's setlist was diverse and covered pretty much a song or three from their albums. I would have liked to have heard "The Boy with the Arab Strap", "Legal Man" or "The Model" but beggars can't be choosers. B&S entertained and entertained well.
And when everyone left the show, it was all wide smiles. Until we had to wait in line for coat check.
Beer Rating:
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