Andrew Bird - Union Chapel

Well going to a gig on your own is not the best was to see an act but then again sometimes there is no alternative. This time the lad blew me out and went to Muse instead ... but here I was at the Union Chapel in Highbury, possibly one the best venues to see anyone not a straight rock band.

Tonight was the magnificent Andrew Bird, who produced one of the best, if not the best album of the year, Noble Beast.
Support was from Moriarty who were new to me but they put on a great, professional and polished set. Their vocalist has a strong, pure voice ideally suited to the collection of Americana-blues songs. Their harmonica player was outstanding - not always an instrument that I love but when played this well, capable of great things and real emotion. A set all too soon over but with a genuinely warm reception from the crowd.

As the crew cleared the stage it became obvious that Mr Bird would not have the accompanying band that played with him earlier I'm the year in Bristol. And true enough he popped onto the stage as alone as I was, only infinitely more talented.

What you lose in terms of drive and energy from a backing band you make up with, especially in a relatively intimate and acoustically sensitive venue as this, in crystal clarity and an opportunity to see and hear everything that is played.

He is a genuinely virtuoso player - his violin playing is legion, his whistling strong and clear, his guitar playing is up there with the best of them, he has a great and distinctive voice and he can do it all together with the aid of his quick moving stockinged feet around the myriad loop pedals. It is impressive enough that he can manage to do all this but the fact that the result is so brilliant, almost symphonic on ocassions, is nothing short of genius.

The set was made up of some songs unknown to me, some by his own admission a mashup of his own songs (like the mash of Sweetbreads and Dark Matter), some welcome new songs like Lucitania, and of course some old favourites like Natural Disaster that was sublime.

The crowd was strangely subdued, perhaps the influence of the venue, perhaps in some sort of hushed awe, I can't believe that having sold out two night it was indifference.

Of course having to catch the last train West meant that I had to leave well before the end, but better three quarters of the gig than none.

A remarkable man producing innovative, quality music with depth and resonance, how fortunate to have seen him twice in a year that has had him touring almost continually. I wouldn't be surprised if he heads off for some peace quiet and R&R for a while.

Andrew Bird Myspace

Moriarty Myspace

Moriarty Web site

Andrew Bird at The Thekla

Noble Beast has been the default album of choice these last few months, rapidly working its way into the old psyche so that frequently one its songs will be rattling around my heading in the morning. The prospect of seeing Andrew Bird was already more than tempting but the 09.30 Club show put out by NPR only confirmed that it had the potential to be a special event.

Strangely this was my first show at the Thekla (largely I guess because my usual gig buddy son is still oh-so not quite 18 and so unable to access this old tub) and what an oddly endearing venue it is, deep in the insides of some hulk of a ship laid up in Bristol’s Mud Dock (ah the romance of the name) for which there is bound to be a rich history that I am ignorant of.

Peering out of one of the oblong ‘window’ apertures on the balcony level made me feel a bit like an extra in a nasty west end musical but it did at least afford me an excellent view of the stage not 10 feet away – a stage that it must be said is microscopic, the kit of the two bands filling it to the brim.

I know that ‘intimate’ venues always look impossibly small yet seem to cram in more people than you imagine, but it seemed to me (perhaps mistakenly) that both bands were a tad underwhelmed by the venue, maybe expecting something a little larger.

Anyhow Cortney Tidwell (you would do something about the name wouldn’t you?) and her band took the stage and knocked out some frankly rather good stuff – I knew nothing of them and apart from rapidly saying their individual names, saying they were from Nashville and have a new CD due out on City Slang, I learnt little more from them. Cortney has a fine voice reminiscent of Bjork on occasions, the band did some fine stuff and I found myself transfixed by the drummer – this sometimes happens to me I have noticed, not through any weird homo-erotic leanings but my own absence of rhythmic ability draws me to wonder at those who have it in spades. Anyhow some fine stuff, the last track being especially affecting (whatever it was called), I of course got the last CD – Don’t Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up - and hope to rediscover some of the stuff they played through this.

Mr Bird was as hoped, an extraordinary chap. He looks like a regular IT technician, slightly geeky and gangly (in a good way!) but has an immense talent – guitar, vocals, the violin and of course his trademark whistle. OK he may not be the first person to use those natty loop machines to build up layers of sound but good grief he does it with majesty – complex layered loops of violin snatches, bits of whistling, hand claps, guitar riffs overlaid with his pitch perfect vocals. I can safely say I have never seen anyone produce this sort of quality, creativity and emotionally engaging music all on his-ownsome. Of course the addition of a drummer/keyboard/knobs and buttons man plus a bass saxophonist and a far-back guitarist only adds depth and richness but it is still Andrew Bird that produces the great majority of the wonderful sounds. At times it was hard to know whether to concentrate on the music or be absorbed by his darting between pedals and buttons, guitar and violin – stabbing, pressing, twiddling without losing a beat and generating a seamless stream of magic (ooph, better ease up now looks like I am getting carried away….)

The hour and a half set of course ran through many (but far from all) tracks from Noble Beast, and pleasingly several from Armchair Apocrypha plus no doubt some from other albums that I don’t know. A cover of a Smog track and an apparently old gospel song added different facets to the mix, all welcome.

His closing, solo encore was jaw-dropping and I am unable to describe it adequately – not a track that I know, but a staggering mix of virtuoso violin playing, mastery of the loop technology, guitar and the voice and whistle. Quite exceptional – as Ms Butterworth said on the stairs on the way out – perhaps the gig of the year so far?

Cortney Tidwell Myspace

Andrew Bird Website

Andrew Bird Myspace

Thekla Website

Andrew Bird - Noble Beast

I have to say that Andrew Bird's Noble Beast album has really got to me. The quite winning combination of violin, vocals and whistling really can't be beaten and combined with melodies that dig under your skin and sufficient wackiness to be charming but not irritating, means that this has been on heavy rotation of late.

Some apparently find his rather beautifully constructed lyrics a tad knowing but frankly its a joy to have some lyrics that both tell stories but also employ some out-of-the-mainstream words: for goodness sake just listen to some of the unutterable rubbish on the new U2 effort, I know which I would rather listen to.

There is something oddly timeless about Birds music, despite the unusual combinations, loops and noises; perhaps it is the use of older instruments - violins, semi-acoustics, glockenspiel, cor anglais etc that give a depth and richness to the sound. Of course it is a joy to hear someone able to whistle with accomplishment - a skill sadly lost to me - and the whole builds to a wondrous combination of folk, rock, traditional soundscape.

NPR have a great, full length concert from the 9.30 club in Washington that is available both to stream and get on podcast. Bird's ability to play several instruments, whistle, sing and control numerous loops etc means that he can play with only a couple of additional musicians yet accurately produce his full sound.

I have squirrelled away my tickets to see him when he reaches the Thekla in Bristol in May this year - by all accounts it should be a show woreth seeing..

Andrew Bird with Mucca Pazza - "Fitz & The Dizzyspells”


Andrew Bird Website
Andrew Bird Myspace
NPR Concert