Is it too early to call the gig of the year? With the bands coming out this summer, it most probably is. It’s a shame this gig wasn’t on the tail of last year, then I could have called it . Either way, The Corner Hotel was provided with one fantastic show from Andrew Bird.
I had arrived too late to see all the first supports set. However, the acoustic set was enough too impress and provide the right mood for the night. I’m interested to see how an entire set from The Sly Hats would hold up.
Next up to support was Dosh, who was also playing drums for Andrew Bird. I, personally, was not drawn to Dosh’s performance. He’s definitely a gifted drummer and musician but, in order to develop his loops and layers, he spent a large portion of the set facing away from the crowd. While this set didn’t stand on it’s own, as a support to the evening it worked as a backing while the crowd waited in high spirits for Andrew Bird, which may have very well been Dosh’s intent.
Andrew Bird began his set solo with his violin and loop pedal. His abilities with the violin suggested he is well trained, classically. His different styles of playing with finger picking, strumming and the loop pedal show his willingness to experiment. These ingredients can open the door to an air of artistic pretentiousness but, even with all the complexities, it’s amazing how accessible his performance is to the point where his numbers can deemed pop songs.
Sometimes you go to a gig and it fires you up to go home, pull out the guitar and play until the sun comes up. However, then there are gigs like this where the artist is so talented you’re gobsmacked throughout the show and your mind is left to develop plans on how to destroy your instrument of choice. Fire?
After his solo numbers, Martin Dosh returned to the drum-kit and Jeremy Ylvisaker took to the bass. This backing allowed Bird to tackle the guitar as well as the violin and work on more intricate layers with his loop pedals. At some moments, it seemed there was a string orchestra hiding back stage. I’ve seen loop pedals used before, but this was the first time one really amazed me.
While quirky, Andrew Bird has much more charismatic stage presence than I had expected. From such intricate, well crafted songs and his extreme instrumental abilities, I only assumed he would’ve had to spend a little too much time mastering his craft and not enough time gaining communication skills. On stage, however, he offered jokes and created a feeling of ease amongst the room.
The crowd hung on to his every word within banter and lyrics, even picking up and responding to various subtle joke scattered within his songs. There were plenty of pin drop moments in this set, which then erupted into loud applause.
Andrew is a true artist giving a performance. Moments of comedy, sombre introspective parts, songs with semi-spoken word section (as if he is acting in a play) and then moments where the music grabs you and takes you away. It certainly creates a uniquely styled show that is well worth experiencing.
While only new to Andrew Bird’s music, after hearing his latest album and seeing this show, I have a feeling I will be a fan for a long while yet. And the beauty of that? There’s a nice back-catalogue waiting for me to give it a spin.
