Andrew Bird/Archer Prewitt/Clyde Federal @ Metro April 16th
Day after taxes were due and what a better way to celebrate then a show at the metro This was the record release show for Andrew Bird’s newest album “Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs”, which had actually been out for about 2 months but due to him being the opening act for Ani Difraco. The openers were 2 local pop bands, one new and one that has been around a bit .
Cylde Federal was on first. We walked in just at 9pm and they had already taken the stage. I was interested in hearing them simply due to the fact that I had no idea who they were. They played a nice range of pop songs. Some songs had a slight country/folk tinge while others were straight ahead power-pop tunes. All of the songs were sung with much feeling, and it looked like the band was having a good time up there. They have 3 ep’s out and I will be looking forward to seeing mre shows by them.
Archer Prewitt is just not in my bag. I really like his work in Sea and Cake a blend of melow pop and post-rock noodling. But, by himself (with a backing band) in a large space just didn’t work. I think a Schubas show would have been more of his style. His very thin guitar sound (he mainly played a Danelectro if memory serves) and soft voice just didn’t travel very far off stage. Maybe it was an off night for him. Any how I will just stick to the Sea and Cake albums and leave it at that.
Now the reason for getting through the week. Andrew bird with Kevin O’Donnell (who he has worked with for about 10 years, a past member of the bowl of fire) on drums. First item of note is the way the stage was set up. The drum kit was set up on the far left of the stage very near the front edge, while Bird’s set was his usual 2 amps on either side of him about 10 feet back. I read some where that he liked playing solo because he hated having someone stare at his back while he playing, so bring the drum forward was probably to account for that, and to show off Kevin’s drumming which is on par with Birds multi-instrumentalism. There was a strange large victrola shaped horn on a box in the back of the stage too. I have no idea what it was hooked up to or what kind of sound it produced. Regaurdless, the sound was superb, Kevin played brushes all night and I think he had a laptop by his feet cueing some samples. I was curious how the new album would come off live; he had been playing most of these songs for the past year and a half and the Metro would be a strange place to do the solo w/sampler routine that he usually does. Even with the samples he managed to keep the songs fresh and play them the way he wanted to at that moment. He cant play the same song twice, and this show was no exception. In the past it was things like violin pieces, or speed, or timing that he would change; and he did that here to, but above that he played around with his voice in this large space. Belting out silky smooth falsettos and operatic high notes, conjuring up the late Jeff Buckley at times, while also adding pause and space to lines, making the emotional and sarcastic lyrics even more so. He mainly played the new album more or less in order, adding a few fan favorites like “Easy Going”(that is my best guess at a name..not sure of its real title),“Lull” and an instrumental piece that sounded as if it was based off of a classical piece. Not having an encyclopedic knowledge of music I couldn’t say what composition it was, but he and Kevin made it their own by the end. Together the 2 of them filled the Metro with some of the most beautiful music I have heard all year. I was so giddy all week for this show and it was well worth the wait.
