I didn't particularly
want to buy a ticket to the festival on Saturday just to see Andrew
Bird, whom I've seen three times before, but when he announced a late
night show after the festival on Friday, I jumped on that train.
However, because I stayed to the end of the festival on Friday to see Radiohead, by the time I made
it to Stubb's, the openers had long since finished and Andrew Bird
was at least a half-hour into his set.
Artist: Andrew Bird
Venue: Stubb's
(outside)
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 30 September 2016
Opening Acts: Sinkane, Lucy Dacus
Event: Austin City Limits 2016 Late Night Show
Setlist (incomplete):
Puma
Puma
Left Handed Kisses
Roma Fade
Three White Horses
The Naming of Things
Plasticities
Valleys of the Young
Pulaski at Night
Encore:
Give It Away [one mic]
My Sister's Tiny Hands
[one mic; The Handsome Family cover]
Fake Palindromes
Unfortunately I can't
speak to the openers, and I haven't been able to find Bird's complete
setlist elsewhere, so I can only provide what I witnessed. I was
immediately surprised that the band was neither Bird's longtime
accompanists (drummer Martin Dosh, guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker,
bassist Mike Lewis) nor the crew from the last tour (bassist Alan
Hampton, guitarist Tift Merritt, drummer Kevin O'Donnell, pedal steel
player Eric Heywood). This time it was Ted Poor on drums, Steve
Elliott on guitar, and a Luke whose last name I didn't catch on bass.
(Apparently Hampton played on earlier dates of the tour.) While the
band wasn't exceptional or experimental, they were really good and
probably just a bit better than the last bunch.
I can make a decent
guess as to what Bird played before I arrived based on the webcast of
his festival appearance the next day and some his other recent setlists. It was probably several songs
from the new album, Are You Serious,
as well as a few classics like "Effigy" and "A Nervous
Tic Motion of the Head to the Left". There may have been a
surprise cover or two. But from what I did see, he played several of
the best songs from the new album, a few couple of his best songs
from recent releases ("Three White Horses", "Pulaski
at Night"), and a couple of his best older songs ("The
Naming of Things", "Plasticities", and even "Fake
Palindromes"). It came off as a very well-curated set balancing
his various strengths.
"Left
Handed Kisses" is a great single from the new album, albeit with
a few phrases that always seemed oddly unbalanced for a singer that
loves to fill space with clever wordplay. Playing it live without
Fiona Apple's excellent parts proved a challenge, and although I kind
of wished Bird had managed to cajole one of his bandmates into
singing her parts, he did a modest job of
doing it all himself. "Puma",
meanwhile, is an impressively catchy song about his wife's
chemotherapy. "Valleys of the Young" is slightly ridiculous
and maybe a little more directly personal than Bird is used to, but I
can appreciate the depth with which he weighs the decision of having
children.
"Three
White Horses" was the highlight of Hands of Glory
(2012), and the version they played on stage also incorporated
elements of the more atmospheric "Beyond the Valley of the Three
White Horses". It started slow and violin-driven, but then
Elliott played a slide guitar solo before they suddenly picked up the
pace and carried into a great rendition of the rest of the song. Bird
has never one to be shy of having multiple versions of his best
songs, which is also demonstrated by "Pulaski at Night".
Originally the standout track from the otherwise instrumental I
Want to See Pulaski at Night EP
(2013), he released another (slightly inferior) version as just
"Pulaski" on the deluxe edition of Are You
Serious. The version they played
live was a bit closer to the latter version, but yet it equaled the
strength of the original.
Bird
claims to have rarely played "The Naming of Things", which
appears to be true, although it did appear on the Fake
Conversations live EP given out
for free to ticket buyers on the 2012 tour, and he played it when I
saw him on that tour.
It's one of his best songs, but he has a tendency to change the
phrasing of it when performing it live, much like Lou Reed
would. Bird is a much more talented singer than Reed, but it's still
annoying to have the
opportunity for singing along rendered practically impossible.
On one hand, I like it when musicians can rearrange and reconfigure
their songs live, but on the other, it can be alienating, especially
when it is done to an artist's most well-known song, in this case
"Fake Palindromes".
For
the encore, Bird again reprised his one mic gimmick, although with
the addition of the full drum kit. "Give It Away" is great
song from Break It Yourself
(2012), and "My Sister's Tiny Hands" is a typical example
of the all-Handsome Family covers album, Things Are Great
Here, Sort Of… (2014). While
the album goes perhaps a bit too far, Bird has always done a good job
of interpreting Handsome Family songs, and this song is no exception
when presented in its own light. Both
were well suited to the format.
I
thoroughly enjoyed the part of the set I saw, so I wish I'd seen the
full thing. The performance at the festival the following day was
fairly similar, albeit condensed. For the shorter festival set, Bird
dropped the one-mic section and focused mostly on uptempo, catchy
numbers. However, he still managed to play a couple songs with
lower-key, subtler sections ("Three White Horses" and
"Pulaski at Night"). In both shows, he seemed to play to
his proven strengths in the indie rock vein with limited crossover
into the country/folk side of things. However, I'm still left with
the impression that Bird is searching out new directions. His latest
album is decidedly a return to indie rock after some brief
diversions, but the directness of the lyrics is certainly a change.
The album took a while to grow on me, but the live performance
secured my impression that the new material stands up almost as well
as his best work. I might still be waiting for a dramatic turn of
events, but Bird is delivering satisfying music in the meantime.
Score:
Late night show: A-
Festival webcast: A-
Are You Serious:
B+
