In the midst of a string of summer festival dates, Scottish indie-pop legends Belle and Sebastian made their only California appearance at the Santa Barbara County Bowl Wednesday night. Coming out of Austin, flight issues delayed their crew, but with the help of local pros, things came together, and a magical night was had. L.A.'s own Best Coast nailed down the opening duties on an evening presented by Santa Monica public radio powerhouse KCRW.
Almost three years have elapsed since the last time we caught up Belle and Sebastian at the Matador Records celebration in Las Vegas, and they remain as sharp and charming as ever. Backed with horns and a string section, Stuart Murdoch led the band through their back catalogue, to the delight of a sparse, but fervent audience. Highlights included "I'm A Cuckoo", and "Piazza, New York Catcher", both from Dear Catastrophe Waitress, and an epic "Stars Of Track And Field", from If You're Feeling Sinister. "Dirty Dream Number Two" from The Boy With The Arab Strap provided the first opportunity for audience participation, (below),
All told, it was a delightful evening outdoors with what might be the ultimate bedsit band. From here, the tour pushes on to Salt Lake City, and a spotlight slot at the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago. Hopefully, the touring gods have had their fun, and the band's travels will be smoother.
Best Coast, no strangers to Santa Barbara, graduated to the big stage of the Bowl, and seemed right at home. Their tight set rested heavily on their debut album, and gave a sneak peak of their upcoming EP in the form of a new song, "Fear Of My Identity", (below), that fit in perfectly with the girl-group garage sound of their earlier days. While Bethany Consentino fielded the audience love and Seinfeld queries, it was Bobb Bruno, taking care of business off to the side, who remains the band's secret weapon.
I keep thinking of Florence and the Machine as 'our little secret', having caught her a few years back at Coachella as she burst into our concsiousness. As the sold out crowd at Saturday night's Santa Barbara County Bowl show would attest: The secret is out.
This was the official kickoff of their North American jaunt, and if their subsequent Coachella reception is any indication-it should be an amazing tour. The band just released an 'Unplugged' record, but there was nothing unplugged about this show, which leaned heavily on material from last year's sophomore effort Ceremonials, and featured a full complement, the two drummers and backup singers adding to the majesty of the songs.
Clad lithely in a catsuit topped with an amazing cape, Florence reared back and let the Voice do the work, bouncing exuberantly around the perimeter of the stage, scarcely able to contain her excitement. It is so good to have her back.
Setlist: Only If For A Night What the Water Gave Me Cosmic Love Dog Days Are Over Between Two Lungs Heartlines Leave My Body Shake It Out Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) Spectrum You've Got the Love Lover to Lover (encore)
Never Let Me Go
No Light, No Light
Source: setlist.fm
Opening duties for the show were handled splendidly by Dev Hynes, (the artist formerly known as Lightspeed Champion), whose current gig is billed as Blood Orange. His one man guitar with laptop samples routine started pleasantly enough, built to a slow boil, ending with a nasty raveup that got the early arrivals' full attention, and surely won him new converts.
Radiohead once again made the trip to Santa Barbara County Bowl on a stormy Thursday evening, serving as a warmup for their Saturday headlining spot at Coachella. Fortunately, they seem attached to a place that they've far outgrown-this being their 3rd appearance there, and the audience braved the elements that turned the night into an unforgettable show.
One way to read the set is as a powerful response to the mixed reviews that greeted last years TKOL. My personal theory is that the avalanche of music available now and the amped up time cycle has led to sloppiness in reviews from not enough quality time spent listening, in the rush to judgement.
TKOL (to me) is the purest distillation of Radiohead, and really came to life the most in the live renditions of the songs.
To translate the rhythmic complexity of the LP, the band brought aboard Portishead's touring drummer, and the experiment definitely worked. "Good Morning Mr. Magpie" was an unexpected full frontal assault. The new songs that have appeared during the tour, "Staircase" and "Identikit", surfaced, as well as post King Of Limbs single "Supercollider".
The rain held off for awhile, and when it did make its appearance, it served to heighten the mood, notably during "Lotus Flower", and "These Are My Twisted Words". It also served to remind one just how often rain comes up in Radiohead songs...The mood was lightened in the first encore during a breakdown in the intro to "Separator", as it was so eloquently put from the stage: "There's a mouse under my pedal".
They slipped in "Planet Telex" at the end of the first encore, and finished out the night with an always epic "Paranoid Android". Not surprisingly, despite Mother Nature's best efforts, the seats were full of the hardy faithful to the end.
Setlist:
01 “Bloom”
02 “15 Step”
03 “Morning Mr. Magpie”
04 “Staircase”
05 “Codex”
06 “The Daily Mail”
07 “Myxomatosis”
08 “The Gloaming”
09 “These Are My Twisted Words”
10 “Pyramid Song”
11 “Supercollider”
12 “Lotus Flower”
13 “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”
14 “Feral”
15 “Little By Little”
16 “Idioteque”
encore 1:
17 “Separator”
18 “Nude”
19 “Identikit”
20 “Planet Telex”
encore 2:
21 “Give Up The Ghost”
22 “Reckoner”
23 “Paranoid Android”
Also, here is the entirety of their Coachella set:
Other Lives, (from Oklahoma), carried out the opening duties with vigor. Their last Santa Barbara appearance was at Soho, opening for The Rosebuds. In the fall they opened for Bon Iver, and have spent the spring working across the States with Radiohead. Their open, cinematic sound-which made such an impression in a small club, took on a new life here.
Having established that I am not (wahh!) going to Coachella this year, it's time to take stock of the consolation prize, that embarrassment of riches we shall call 'Festival Fallout'. Proximity to festivals is definitely having an impact on my life-the recent Veronica Falls/Bleached show in LA came worked around their appearance at the Noise Pop Festival in San Francisco, not to mention upcoming shows like Cults, whose west coast run is tacked on after SXSW.
Weep not for me indeed, as even without attending Coachella, I won't have many breaths to spare. Given the two weekend setup this year, there is a lot of loose time around, and nature abhors a vacuum. The Santa Barbara County Bowl is opening its season with Radiohead, Florence & The Machine, and Bon Iver, all courtesy of Coachella.
Goldenvoice, who brings you Coachella, has put up their own schedule filling every nook and cranny of offtime with shows...absolutely insane.
While I am looking forward to getting back on the road to festivals, in the meantime, let's call it the next best thing to being there!
Giving power to the phrase 'never say never', after much weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, the passing of two members, and 45 years of water under the bridge, it was with both heady excitement and blind fear that I awaited the return of Buffalo Springfield.
They clocked in for two nights at the Santa Barbara County Bowl this week, in the midst of a handful of California warm up dates, setting the stage for an appearance at Bonnaroo this weekend.
I studiously avoided anything in the way of reviews; figuring just to play it out and hope for the best. Knowing the involvement of Neil Young, a certain amount of faith could be invested that a) the process would not be easy, and b) that his quality control would be in effect. Which ultimately turned out to be the case...the man seems very vested in every part of his legacy, and not only was the Springfield crown brushed off, but one would say burnished. The band only lasted '66-'68 and managed a few records before imploding into acrimony, and never had the advantage of playing shows where the technology matched the talent...
So, this was what had to be put right, and the answer turned out to be a resounding 'Exceeds Expectations'. Like the Pixies reunion, it was driven not wholly by money, or new material, but a chance to shine a light on an unjustly overlooked band, as the setlist reaffirmed. Not only that, but it was done the right way, giving out star turns to the players, but keeping the entire night focused on the unit. The big takeaway was the indelible tightness of the players. In just their sixth official show since returning, the tone was set early on, from the emotionally charged opener "On The Way Home", they slid into "Rock and Roll Woman", Steven Stills and Young trading off solos like it was yesterday, as Neil gruffly observed between songs: "We come from the Past..."
The setlist was well chosen, giving everyone a spotlight, and they made the most of it, from Richie Furay turning "Kind Woman" into a sublime tribute to his 40+ year marriage, to Steven Stills masterwork "For What It's Worth", where his tattered growl showed it's age, but aged like good whiskey. Stills' finest moments might have been when he donned a solid body Gibson and added delicate tonal colorings to the songs. Seeing the songs played gave lie to everyone's subsequent individual celebrity and reinforced the greatness of the band.
As for Neil, two things I never thought I'd see or hear: #1) Neil genuinely laughing & joking onstage, just generally having a blast...and #2) a beautifully arranged version of "Broken Arrow". Wow.
Opening the evening were Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, now with a few shows under their belt after a long hiatus, and they stepped up their game to the big stage. Unfortunately, as an opener, they were treated to the typical Santa Barbara apathy/hospitality, the audience looking to be about 70/30 yakking/engaged. They stepped out in the Nudie suits reserved for special occasions, and battled through a set of the highlights of their catalogue, and near the end, the normally unflappable Rawlings was even moved to observe audibly that: "There's a whole lot of time between the bands to talk..." After the set closer, "Revelator", they still had some time, and had the sound crew amp up the reverb, and pitched headlong into a noisy cover of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit", thoroughly drowning out intended conversations...Which, ironically, earned them a standing ovation from the pit in front of the stage, most of whom had spent the show talking...Hmmm.
Programming note: lack of supporting media with this screed will be explained by the humble sign. My guess is that the shows were being recorded, as another sign stressed that after the show started, no one would be seated for two songs, and then only in between songs. For the main event, it certainly brought a hall ambiance to the great outdoors, and people, for the most part, complied with the cell phone photo restrictions.
It was a night to remember for all, and apparently the experiment worked, because word has come down that they'll be adding more dates in the fall. It's so nice to have them back, and I'm looking forward to reading about their reception at Bonnaroo.
Buffalo Springfield Santa Barbara Bowl ~6/8/2011 (courtesy of setlist.fm)
French pop sensation Phoenix, still touring hard on the heels of 2009's 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix', brought their show to the Santa Barbara County Bowl on Sunday night. This came the night after, what August Brown in the LA Times termed, 'a career making performance' at the Hollywood Bowl. Their outdoor stage appearance at Coachella this year drew an overflow crowd that I couldn't penetrate, but left an impression, and on their own at 'our' Bowl, they did not disappoint.
They hit the stage to a rousing take of 'Wolfgang's' opener, "Lisztomania" (above), and never looked back.
The band did a great job of translating a particularly detailed album to the jet thrust umph that an arena level show demands, without sacrificing the danceability and deadening the sound, as seems to happen all too frequently. No elaborate production for this unit, a standard light show, and the odd full sized curtain were simple and well deployed.
Not to be forgotten were tonight's opener: Neon Indian, who overcame the sparse early arrivals, (this of course being Santa Barbara), and a spotty sound mix that never seemed to gel until near the end of their set, to win over the crowd.
Interestingly enough, this was my first trip to the County Bowl this season, and I would be remiss if I didn't note, for those who haven't had the pleasure, that this is one of the finest facilities of it's size in the country, and always takes on a special tinge of magic at sunset...
Akkk, it’s already February, and I still haven’t cleaned up last year…Live shows started out on the down, having to miss Coachella for the first time in five years, but after a quiet summer (dodging fires), I made up for it with a vengeance in the fall… In order, the best shows I saw last year:
#3) RADIOHEAD, Santa Barbara County Bowl, August Finishing off a two stage US tour at the smallest venue right in my backyard, what’s to complain about? Most years this would have been THE show, hands down, and it speaks to the others that it wasn’t. Tour sharpened, and obviously smelling the finish line, Yorke & co. rocked with a vengeance, surpassing their previous two night stand here years ago…fun trivia, NPR offers a podcast of this show free, so hear for yourself…
#2) NICK CAVE & BAD SEEDS, Hollywood Bowl, September Crisp fall night at the granddaddy of them all with a bill that didn’t stint on value for the dollar: opening w/Cat Power followed by Spiritualized, making way for the big man himself…the Bad Seeds were razor sharp, and the setlist spanned his whole career…highlights included a vicious reading of ‘The Mercy Seat” from ‘Tender Prey’. But the spotlight was on the man himself…when the book is written on stage presence, he will have his own little chapter, all to himself. Absolutely galvanizing…by the second song I just started laughing, it was so ridiculous. The vision that came to mind was not music, but Samuel L. Jackson, in the scene near the end of 'Pulp Fiction' where he reclaims his wallet from Tim Roth's character...("it's the one that says bad ass m@#$@$r")...a man in such complete control of his craft. As fate would have it, not long after this show, Mick Harvey, Cave's right hand man of 25 years, decided to retire from the band...his fiery counterpoints throughout the night now take on the patina of epitah...
#1) MY BLOODY VALENTINE, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, October What do you do when your dreams come true? More than I ever could have hoped, (and had given up hoping for), My Bloody Valentine returned to the states for the first time in 15 years, and picked up right where they left off, in a hazy narcotic swirl of harmonies and feedback. Noise, glorious noise. The story to date: in the early nineties, MBV solidified their lineup, dribbled out a few EP’s, one album, then unleashed ‘Loveless’, their masterpiece…then promptly disappeared for a decade and a half. Guitarist Kevin Shields made some guest appearances, did some soundtrack work (Lost In Translation), and signed to Island, only to record & scrap a record, slave to his perfectionist tendencies… Then, an appearance was announced at ATP in NY, and fortunately, before I could buy a plane ticket, a short tour was booked, ending in LA. And, so, one would say, it ended on a high note… The set drew heavily on ‘Loveless’, with a smattering of ‘Isn’t Anything’…Belinda Butcher was captivating, and Shields stayed out of the spots, letting his guitar communicate… And what has now passed into legend, the climactic ‘You Made Me Realize’, a couple of quick choruses, then into a 17 minute lockdown feedback frenzy, that chased the weak and earplugless from the floor, reduced the rest into grinning idiots, and even from the seats at the top of the auditorium grew into a vibrating shimmering thing that you could feel. My only description to those not there would be to imagine laying down on a runway at LAX & having a plane take off over you;))) …then back into a triumphant chorus, and goodnight & goodbye America…
