I was lucky to get tickets for the Beck show last night. The sold out performance was filled with people eager to hear Beck's live take on his new album.
After what seemed like an eternity of bad music (me thinks this was an intentional and clever strategy on the band's part, actually), the crowd was literally roaring for Beck. By the time the band took stage, the crowd was ready to go.
Starting out the night with "Black Tambourine", Beck appeared on stage to cheers. Or did he? He was on stage jumping and jiving to the beat, but was that Beck dressed in a white suit and fedora? No - it turned out to be his dancer/percussionist/backup singer. In a second, the man himself popped on stage, and launched into his set.
On stage, he had quite a line-up: keyboardist, guitarist, bass player, dancer/percussionist, and drummer, with Beck himself on lead guitar and vocals. For this night only, he had a special guest video DJ from Japan who projected abstract computer images and video on the giant white backdrop. The dancer added pop-locks, splits, and shadow boxing (which was actually a lot cooled than it sounds) on some songs, while on others, he took to a second drum kit or percussion, adding texture. The band was tight, and reproduced a lot of the complexity of sound you hear in the recordings. Totally cool!
As on past tours, Beck and company did not disappoint. The energy level was tangible as the band covered hits from nearly his entire catalog. By the time he hit "Two Turntables (And a Microphone)", and had the audience yelling "Ooh La-La Sassoon", they were ready to follow him anywhere. Eventually, the entire audience ended up jumping up and down like pogo sticks as the band pumped on. I bet those idiots that wore sandals last night were regretting that fashion statement!
About mid-way through the set, he brought it down a level by covering a several of his slower songs in an acoustic setting, while the video DJ displayed kaleidoscope images across the stage. In closing the acoustic set, they brought out a dining table at which the band was seated. As he played two remaining acoustic numbers, the band tapped and plinked out rhythms on the glasses, plates, and bowls on the table.
Beck closed out with a single encore: E Pro, which ripped (of course). All in all, it was an amazing show, and highly recommended.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
yeah, it was a great show. I was a bit apprehensive, since I had heard Beck was not that hot live, but clearly that's not true. The hopping was great, at one point I was so packed I had to jump since everyone was around me, and I didn't have to worry about keeping my balance cuz I didn't have any room to fall!
I didn't realize the Japanese DJ (VJ? nah, I guess MTV has ruined that term) was a special one-night-only thing. It was nice to have something other than pre-programmed visuals, he did a good job of it and it's cool to think we got to see something unique that the rest of the cities missed.
- pimlottc
Post a Comment