Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire
12/31/02
Beat Kitchen
Chicago, IL

Source: SBD > CDR

79:03

1. Countdown
   Way Out West
2. Capital I
3. Skin
4. Why?
5. Opposite Day
6. Action/Adventure
7. La Orangutan
8. A Belen le Toca
9. Banking On A Myth
10. Two Way Action
11. Headsoak
12. Indiscreet
13. Dear Old Greenland
14. Depression-Pasillo
- Encore -
15. Happy Day
16. Right On Time
17. Eugene




a review:
(Julia Chambers)

Hey everyone!
Here's a run-down of the Beat Kitchen show for those of you unable to make an appearance.

Well, of course the bands were in fine form, lots of energy in the room.  The audience was as
exuberant as I've ever heard.  Lots of loyal fans were present.  It's interesting to note that it
was a very noisy, but well-behaved crowd.  Not much talking during songs, which is always a
welcome relief.  That's usually a sign that everyone is there for the band, not just to hang out
and chat with their friends.  

Anyway, the Quality 6 were only 5 last night.  Chris Green was sadly absent (and a suitably
strange reason for his absence was provided by Kevin, but I won't go into it here).  But Josh
Hirsh, original bassist for both the Q6 and BOF was present, and sat in for the first song.  Kevin
gave us one of his devilishly funny stories (rant? monologue? whatever you want to call it).  

The Q6 finished at about 11:45, and then there was a flurry of activity as the BOF hurried to be
onstage by midnight.  At about 2 minutes 'til, the band was ready to go, and we got a nice little
build up, complete with musical noodlings (a little "waiting for midnight to arrive" improvising)
and a boisterous countdown started by Bird.  Then after much hooting and hollering, they launched
into "Way Out West", the first song of the new year.

The posting on the official site about the show led me to believe that there was going to be a
dusting off of some older tunes, but they pretty much stuck to the current set list.  They did
play "Depression" and "Eugene", but those two still get played pretty regularly.  DON'T GET ME
WRONG!  It was a marvelous set, complete with a little Colin Bunn led latin interlude which
included the song "La Orangutan" and another Los Hombres Perdidos tune which I've heard before but
don't know the title of.

Nora was also sadly absent, and her vocal stylings were missed, but the presence of Colin (and
Josh for a few numbers) added a whole new (yet decidedly old) feel to the arrangements.  Having
Colin on guitar made the set feel very loose and a little raw, yet the abundance of musical skill
present onstage combined to form a powerful and beautiful evening of songs.  During "Greenland"
you could even hear the audience singing Nora's part (and not too badly either!).  

I think the biggest treat for me was the rendition of "Happy Day" that Bird and Colin played. 
They played it without using the pickups on their instruments, and instead played straight into
their vocal mics, which gave the song a marvelous sound.  Like listening to an old field recording
from the 30's or 40's.  It was a brilliant ploy.

On more than one occasion, Bird had lyric problems, namely that he was flubbing them.  However,
the grimaces, flailing arms and eye-rolling that accompanied his lyrical lapses were quite
entertaining.  Even when he messes up, he still sounds better than most performers out there.

We also got to see the return of L'il Smokey (his electric mandolin), which I personally haven't
seen him play in over a year.  He brought it out for "Indiscreet" (if I remember correctly), and
it sounded great, but he seemed to be having a little trouble with it.  

The audience was in ecstasy, the bands were hot and sweaty and it was a perfect end to, and
beginning of the year!

So, I know a lot of you out there had your fingers crossed for a recording of the show, and there
is one out there.  I wasn't able to record it myself, someone got to the board before I did, and
my brand new microphone wasn't working.  BUT, I made the guy who recorded it promise to get me a
copy, which I will gladly forward to anyone who's interested.

There were some other candyshoppers there and I expect them (you know who you are) to report in as
well...to add to, or contradict my very biased account of the evenings doings.

Julia

PS- On a side note, present at the club last night was one of Andrew's siblings, his younger
brother Christian.  Those of us who met and talked to him after the show debated on the subject of
a family resemblance, which, to me, was clear when they were standing side by side...and smiling.


another review:
(Joshua Smelser)

Okay, so here's my review of the New Year's Eve show at The Beat 
Kitchen:

I was wandering around the city lost all day and didn't want to miss 
the show (I mean that why I flew up and all), so I headed to the 
venue a little earlier than planned.  I got there at about 7:45pm and 
ordered some food.  I asked the waitress where I could pick up my 
ticket that I ordered on-line and she said they weren't set up yet.  
So as I ate my dinner I saw fan by fan trickle in.  Now there weren't 
but 15 tables and the bar, so space was limited.  The concert was in 
the back room, so I thought I was pretty safe to have a table near 
that door.  I got to speak with Kevin and Andrew before the show.  
Kevin told me that he had been in rehearsal all day for a play that 
he was writing music for.  He said that he had to have it recorded by 
Friday, so he was quite busy.  I asked him if he was coming to 
Nashville on the 11th and he initially said yes.  But then he told me 
that we actually won't be there for the show, he's coming in the next 
week because Andrew won't need him until then (I guess Andrew is 
doing some recording while he is in Nashville). About 8:30 the place 
was filled and a line formed from the back room to the front 
entrance.  People were starting to get a little irritated because 
nobody had tickets and there was no organization as to how people 
were going to be let in.  Well, at about 9:15 I heard a whisper that 
if you went up to the front and got your hand stamped by the owner 
you could get in, so I did such.  I claimed my space at the front of 
the stage and waited.

The opening band, Pedal Steel Transmission, wasn't bad but not really 
my cup of tea.  I liked their last song, but that was all that really 
caught my interest.  Next up was the Quality Six! It was a great set, 
Josh Hirsch was called up for the first song. After that it was just 
Andrew Bird, Kevin O'Donnell, Colin Bunn, Josh Bell, and a upright 
bassist who I didn't catch the name of. During the beginning of the 
show Kevin noted that Chris Greene wasn't there and he'd tell why 
later.  At the beginning of Mope Kevin went into a hilarious 
monologue about the reason Chris wasn't there.  I can't type it word 
for word for it was almost pornographic, but soooo funny.  He told us 
how Chris and he were lovers and that they recently broke up. He said 
that he couldn't play with him on stage at the same time because he 
would remember all the times that they spent together, Chris' fingers 
twirling through Kevin's chest hair and they way Chris would grasp 
Kevin's buttocks.  He later elaborated that they have both now 
decided they like girls.  I'm sure Kevin's girlfriend would have 
loved to hear the story. The last song they played was "El Cuarto de 
Tula" which is a Latin tune I have heard the Bowl of Fire play back 
in the olden days. You can find it on a Buena Vista Social Club CD, I 
think it's about fire breaking out in a girl named Tula's bedroom.   

The Bowl of Fire started right with the New Year.  From the setlist 
you can see they only played 2 old BOF songs.  Colin had made a 
comment at some time about the blurb being put on the website "due to 
lack of content".  I think Kevin told me at one time that Colin was 
doing the website now instead of Josh Hirsch.  They brought Josh 
Hirsch & Josh Bell on stage for the Latin "party-songs" "La 
Orangutan" & "A Belen le Toca". Later on came "How Indiscreet".  Does 
anyone else know that when the old band was together the song was 
called "The Afterschool Special"? I was asking Julia if she knew why 
they changed the name, but she wasn't sure. Maybe I'll ask Andrew if 
I make it to Nashville next weekend. Andrew whipped out his electric 
mandolin which he attempted to play with a Kinko's card.  Colin gave 
him a pick but that didn't seem to work very well either.  Andrew 
jokingly made a comment that playing the electric mandolin was his 
new career. It was also brought up that there will be a few shows the 
next month...a show with Jelly (or Jellyfish, can't remember), a 
Quality Six show, and the release of "Weather Systems" on April 1st 
(with the release party being at the Old Towne School of Folk 
Music).  The encore of "Happy Day" with the intro of "Precious Little 
Gold Nugget" was played much to the delight of many fans. 

Well, that was about the sum of it!

+ + +

Bowl Of Fire, Quality Six
with Pedal Steel Tranmission
$20 advance, $25 day of show, 9 PM,
included champagne toast at midnight, 21+