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indie-snob>+!#
belle & sebastian @ congress theatre (10-30-03)
with the hidden cameras |
 There were four shows I wanted to see on October 30. Pretty Girls Make Graves were playing at the Bottom Lounge. I had already gotten tickets for it. The Quails were going to be playing at the Fireside, and I'm in love with them. Alkaline Trio was playing at the Aragon (I could miss that), and finally, what do I see on a Clear Channel e-mail? Belle & Sebastian, coming to MY town. How could I miss that? So I've waited three years. What's the big deal? Pffft, yeah right. Ever since I heard If You're Feeling Sinister (easily their best work), B&S has become one of my favorite bands of all time. They call it twee-pop, but I really don't know what that means. All I know is that they're the finest of Scottish pop collectives (there must be more than one…?). At first I was a bit upset about the Hidden Cameras opening. When B&S did their selective dates in California and New York over the summer, they had Bright Eyes and Ben Kweller. Other cities got Spoon and Rasputina, so who were the Hidden Cameras and why were they opening for MY town? Well, I found my answer soon enough, and was delightfully surprised. The Hidden Cameras are a gay pop collective out of Canada. For their record release show, they had male strippers. And if you've ever seen their album cover, it's made up of asses. Some people have compared the Hidden Cameras to a gay church service, and that's kind of how I see it. There's a cute tambourine girl, a guy in his Batman suit, and they even pass out egg shakers to play with during their set. Basically, I had fun, and in the world of musical pretension, fun can be good. Plus, who doesn't like hearing about golden showers and blowjobs in lovely pop refrain? Grade: A-  Hidden Cameras Okay, so maybe I was a little too excited to see B&S live. I was giddy, for god's sake. Last time B&S came, they sold the Congress Theatre out, and mind you, this is like a 2500 person venue or so. Dashboard Confessional played there and didn't even sell it out. Neither did Blur, or Saves the Day or Thursday. All these giant bands can play the Congress and no one can sell it. B&S did (but not tonight). So I think I was just surprised (as I usually am) by the popularity that some of these fairly underground bands really do have. Belle and Sebastian truly are marvelous. As many offshoots as there may be and as many sound a-likes that have come our way, B&S are still fresh. Arguably, their set choice was surprising. It was a lot of new stuff, more than I was ready for, but honestly, I didn't care. My friend sent me their setlist from their last Chicago show, and, yes, it was better, but I question whether or not the song content really matters. Material off If You're Feeling Sinister was light, which upset me a tad, but we did get to hear "Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying" and "Judy and the Dream of Horses," both of which were very much appreciated (I'm pretty sure they played "Stars of Track and Field," too). Otherwise, the highlights really came from the new album. I really enjoy "Piazza New York Catcher," although live, Stuart played it a bit faster than the album version. No matter what they played, though, it came off as being very fluid and well organized, even if 11 people were walking on and off stage. One small let down of the evening was closing things off (not an encore, but shortly before) with "The Wrong Girl," which is sung by "the wrong guy," whose live voice wasn't as polished as Stuart's is, so it was a little bit rough closer. What I did enjoy was "Stay Loose," which is a track I kind of ignored on Dear Catastrophe Waitress. They said it was the first time they had played it live, and it was definitely the liveliest song of the night. They even invited people on stage to dance! Gosh, Belle & Sebastian is just so cool! So, over an hour and a half with Belle & Sebastian: I think I'm satisfied. Grade: A Setlist: Encore: Related Reviews: |