Andrew Bird - Live at Riverside Church, New York City, December 10th, 2012

Andrew Bird performed this (and one other) new song last night at his first Gezelligheid show in New York City, which, for those unaware, is a series of shows Bird usually plays solo in Chicago at which he improvises on old songs and tries out new material. Riverside Church was an excellent choice of venue, Mr Bird was brandishing his typical awkward, mumbling charm, and the horns that festooned (that's right. "festooned") the stage behind him contributed a lot to both the visual and audible atmosphere, especially the pair of spinning Janus Horns (one much larger than the other) standing at center stage. The hornmaker's wares were on display along with Bird's own merchandise in the church lobby, and there were snacks.

There were two sets broken up by an intermission, both of which were quite long. Almost the entire Fingerlings 4 album was reprised, along with a much of this year's Break it Yourself and a smattering of older songs, like the Dylan cover "Oh Sister" and the frequent live show favorite, "Plasticities". The single, "Eyeoneye", and another track, "Orpheo Looks Back", both got a special, softer treatment for this show, which was quite special indeed. Tift Merritt contributed guitar and vocal accompaniment at times, and I'd say it was the show's only (and very slight) bad mark, because she's definitely no Annie Clark. This is the second time I've seen her contribute vocals at an Andrew Bird show in New York City and she frankly seems like a poor match. I'm probably just being overly picky, she's definitely competent, I'm just not happy with what is clearly a deliberate choice.

The second show (tonight, 12/11) is still not sold out as of this writing, and anyone skipping it without a good reason is a fool. Some of the performances from these and the shows in Chicago will likely be used for an upcoming Fingerlings album, if past habits are any indication. These shows are one of a kind (okay, 6-8 of a kind per outing, whatever) and are not to be missed. Below you may find the other new song - an untitled instrumental introduced as yet innocent because he hasn't had to come up with lyrics for it; before it has "the burden of ideas" - and a song released on the recent Hands of Glory record called "Something Biblical".

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A quick note about the recent hiatus - there was one. Yep. Will posts be resuming regularly? Watch this space to find out!

[2012.05.05] Andrew Bird at Beacon Theatre, New York, NY

I can't believe I forgot to post about this show.  I woke up with a live version of Sectionate City stuck in my head today, so. This is "Give it Away" from the new album. I got a free digital download of the album and a live EP called Fake Conversations with my tickets - a very nice touch.

I can't find a better video at the moment, maybe I'll upgrade this later. The one I wanted to use in the first place finally started working. I originally posted Sifters, which you can watch here because it is also very nice. These are quite good for what's probably a smartphone, thank the venue for that. See a show there if you ever get a chance, please. There is no bad seat. They took advantage of this quite a bit, performing almost half a dozen songs gathered around a single microphone (including the one below, which is why I switched to this video), a trend that I really hope catches on more (see a very old First Aid Kit post with no microphones at all for more of the same).