Andrew Bird
4/16/05
Metro
Chicago, IL

Recorded by Julia Chambers

AUD: MiniDisc

Disc 1
1. emcee / poem
2. Intro
3. Sovay
4. I
5. Measuring Cups
6. Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left
7. MX Missiles
8. Banking on Myth
9. Master Fade
10. Naming of Things
11. Fake Palindromes
12. Ravel piece
13. Armchair Apocrypha (Armchair Apocalypse)
14. Tables & Chairs
15. Skin, is My

Disc 2
1. tuning
2. Lull
3. Why
4. Happy Birthday Song


Show review:

From: Julia Chambers
Date: Mon Apr 18, 2005  8:42 pm 
Subject: Re: [thecandyshop] MPOE record release show  juliajay1970 

I too am still buzzing from the show. I'm glad someone else beat me to a long
review, I was putting it off as usual.

The few things I would add are as follows...

I had been listening to the disc non stop for a few days to imprint the album
versions on my brain. I was curious to see if he was going to stick more closely to the
recorded versions of the songs (consciously or unconsciously), what with the radio-time he's been getting, and maybe with such a large show there were bound to be a lot of new folks there. Anyway, he veered around with his tunes, as usual, with 2 blatant exceptions. The songs "Fake Palindromes" and "Tables & Chairs" contained pre-recorded violin bits (!?!) and sounded almost exactly like the album. Which is kind of weird, for Bird. They sounded great, but I was a little taken aback by the pre-fab bits. It seemed to work really well, especially for "Fake", and most people probably wouldn't know the difference. They both had a bit of a "here's my hit single" feel when he played them. I hope he doesn't make a habit of it tho...

The only MPOE song he didn't play was "Opposite Day", and that Ravel piece (String Quartet in F Major, Second Movement) was really great. I was at the Wes Anderson Rocks show
back in December, and I was glad to hear him repeat that one.

The audience was not to be believed. For those who've never been, the Metro is a gigantic place, an oversized club. Capacity probably somewhere around 700, it was sold out.
There was a line of people out front holding "need tickets" signs. It was exciting to walk into that place and see that it was packed. The Metro is also notoriously noisy and usually has a big, stupid party atmosphere. Not this night. I almost didn't notice how quiet the audience was at the time (I was paying attention to other things), but listening to the recording later, there's almost no background chatter to be heard. Which is astounding for that place. Seeing Bird bring a room of 100 people to a hushed calm is nothing compared to being surrounded by 700 people and realizing that *everyone* is paying attention. Wow! They were really hanging on every word too, really revelling in Bird's humorous mannerisms and onstage quirks. There was a sweet moment when a woman held up a sign that said "Mrs. Kelly Bird" with an arrow pointing down to her own head. He struggled to read it in the dim light, then someone read it out for him. He smiled and stared down at his guitar for a few seconds then said "That's uh, that's nice." amidst shouts of "Mine!" and hooting from around the crowd. It was very cute.

"Naming of Things" needs practice, it was the first time I'd heard it live, but it's been nicely adapted for the stage, retaining all the crackling, roaring energy of the studio
recording. It was also the first time I'd heard guitar added to "Skin" (I think), nice,
crunchy guitar.

Bird and Kevin are able to make quite a bit of noise, just the two of them. This show, and the tour they're embarking on seems to be a step away from some of the quiet navel-gazing that Bird has been doing for the past few years. I think it'll help draw in a lot of new
fans (that and the fact that he's finally getting noticed by mainstream critics). Quite a few times during Saturday's show I flashed back to the old BOF days, seeing and feeling the
energy flying out of Bird. That man can really rock!

As I walked out past the couple hundred people standing in line for the merch table, I sighed and smiled to myself. It really was an amazing show, even by Bird's standards. 

