A few weeks ago, I saw Belle & Sebastian and the New Pornographers in New York City. First, I thought, that although this was a fun show, there's no way in hell I'll fly down to L.A. to see them. Then, after this media barrage of Belle & Sebastian interviews and articles, listening to their new album The Life Pursuit almost non-stop for the last few days, a certain "Angel" constantly encouraging me to go and just recounting what happened the last time I saw them in L.A. (I went on stage to sing Isobel's three lines to Dirty Dream #2 on stage in 2003), it now seems foolish that I didn't plan this trip earlier. I could have saved so much money on airfare!!!
So, four days before the show (or somewhere around that time) I decided to get my plane ticket and concert ticket (Thank you Robin's friend! And her husband...).
We arrived at the Wiltern right at 8pm. I've never been to the Wiltern, but the venue carries a special memory in my heart. This was the venue that Blur played in during Great Escape and I was supposed to go to that show. I, being the studious sap that I was, instead decided to study for a Chemistry midterm. Well, I failed the midterm in flying colors and my friend said that the show was so good that he cried. Now, I'm here, hoping that this show would carry the same effect.
New Pornographers played their first song, "Twin Cinema," right smack at 8pm. Which was surprising, because I thought they'd be on much later. Unlike their NYC performance, they were all business tonight, playing song after song after song without any moment for chit chat other than introducing what they were playing next. I don't know if that's because they wanted to get off-stage ASAP or whether they wanted to entertain the audience with as many songs as possible in 60 minutes, but it was fantastic nonetheless! They played all the songs I wanted to hear, including "Out of Blown Speakers," "Slow Decent into Alcoholism," "Only Divine Right" and "July Jones". As usual, the sound was amazing, A.C. Newman was spot on with the vocals, the drummer mesmerized us with his twirling skills and the instrumentation and timing was flawless. I wished that they paused for a bit to entertain us with meaningless chit-chat, but otherwise it was an excellent, excellent set from the New Pornographers. The sold out crowd loved every minute of it.
That's when I got a chance to take a good look at the Wiltern. If you haven't been there, think of the Warfield but slightly bigger. It has the same multi-tiered floor, an all seated balcony and ornate decorations surrounding the walls and ceiling. It's a beautiful venue, and it was like you were transported to 1940's era Hollywood.
Belle & Sebastian came on promptly around ~9:30 to a fanatic audience. It's been a while since they played L.A., even though they were recording The Life Pursuit there for months. They started off with "Stars of Track and Field" from If You're Feeling Sinister which was an amazing rendition of that song. Stuart was crooning the lyrics dressed in his pinstriped "French" shirt while Stevie yet again sported the full three-buttoned suit ensemble.
After that song was a frantic, dizzying pace of fantastic songs from all their albums, including a good majority of the set dedicated to The Life Pursuit. "Funny Little Frog" was probably the 2nd or 3rd song of their set. "To Be Myself Completely," "Another Sunny Day," "Sukie in the Graveyard," and "We are the Sleepyheads" were played in succession. I think at least. The only song I disliked them playing live was "Song for Sunshine." That was my bathroom break song.
They also played some b-sides such as "Century of Fakers" and "The Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner." Like NYC, they played "Electric Renaissance" and "Your Cover's Blown" among others. A lucky Scot got both his requests fulfilled with "Fox in the Snow" and "Sleep the Clock Around" as the final song in their exhaustive setlist.
As usual, Stuart engaged the crowd between songs with funny and clever chit chat. At one part of the show, he said that his friend asked him how it was to dance by himself on stage, in which Stuart didn't know how to reply. But from that point on, Stuart said, he was self-conscious about the way he danced. To make sure he wasn't alone on stage, he told the crowd that we will accompany him on stage for some dance, dance action for one of the songs. I immediately got excited at this prospect and schemed a way I can get on stage and past the HUGE Staff Pro security. Unfortunately, that invitation never occurred, and I'm sure he's going to fulfill that request come Wiltern night 2 rolls around.
After the show, my friend and I met up with other friends at the Opus Bar & Grill, a restaurant where Beans was playing post-show. There was a good amount of people there, but that restaurant is so Marina (or West L.A. if you're from SoCal) that we decided to go even before Beans played. It was such an awkward venue choice, especially since they chose the Derby last time they played L.A. As we walked out the venue and towards the car to go the Echo, we stopped by the tour bus and saw Beans getting ready to go to Opus. We waited for him outside and greeted him once he was out. He signed our ticket stubs and we posed for a camera phone pic. We invited him for a game of football whilst in San Francisco and said that we should e-mail the website if we are so inclined. Which I will.
A fantastic show all around! Looking forward to their show here in S.F.
Beer Rating: 0 Beers
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2 comments:
smart advice that you got from your friend to go to see b&s in LA. otherwise, you wouldn't have had a chance to write this glowing review! i'd say you owed her one.
BEANS?
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