Getting Misty In L.A.

FATHER JOHN MISTY

WILTERN THEATER, LA

02 NOVEMBER, 2013

Father John Misty put the finishing touches on his solo acoustic expedition at the Wiltern Theater, so named for its location of the corner of Wilshire and Western in Koreatown. Since September's warmup date in Big Sur as a benefit for the Henry Miller Library, the Misty juggurnaut has travelled across the country. Net changes in the set amount to few, other than natural tightening that occurs over the course of dates. It was impressive to note the packed upper corners of the Wiltern, his biggest sole-appearing LA appearance to date, and staging for the most part was spartan, but well-used. Throughout the show, a lady in a black bikini with thigh high leather boots and a giant rabbit head perched on a chair behind him, motionless but for shifting position every few songs. As an unsettling counterpoint, it was second to none, and midway through the set, the already-fabled I-Phone cutout swung down from the rafters to occupy pride of place onstage.
Charging right in, he opened with "I'm Writing A Novel", pushing traditional opener "Fun Times In Babylon" to midway through. After "Only Son Of A Ladies Man", he worked into the new with a rousing "I Love You Honeybear", and what we'll guess is called "Funny Girls", a bitter crowd-pleaser that addressed misuse of the word "literally" to pleasing effect. Another new song was rolled out after "Fun Times In Babylon", a slow charmer that we'll know for now as "Chateau Lobby #9". The Dory Previn cover  that he played in Big Sur reappeared here, and one of the evening's high points was yet another new song, (provisionally we'll call it "Awful Things"), that underlined the energy that Misty brought to the table, underscoring the difference with the intimate, more probing versions of songs heard in Big Sur. It was a harrowing tune, and adds another facet to the emotional spectrum of the forthcoming LP. For Mistyologists, the inclusion of a spoken word father-son talk in "How I Learned To Love The War" was something new and entertaining, and for his encore, he backed up "Tee Pees 1-12" with the new "The Atom Bomb and Me" (our title...), that had a philosophical rumination on the cultural phenomenon of opportunistically invoking "Free Bird". Tillman finished off the night with a bang, concluding with the rarely played, "O I Long To Feel Your Arms Around Me", the only song from Fear Fun I'd yet to hear him play live. Speculation on why he never played it live seems to range from 'too personal' to 'too Fleet Foxes-like'. Hell, likely none of the above for what we've seen of Misty. The song itself is but a brief heartfelt interlude in the middle of the insanity of the album, and with repeated listenings, takes on the weight of a hymn, akin to Son Volt's "Windfall". Tonight's take missed the lonesome organ lines of the studio version, but was more than made up for by the sheer power of his delivery. And with that, Misty waved to the crowd, and arm in arm, strolled off the stage with his bunny.

Day Of The Dead with Flaming Impala

FLAMING LIPS

TAME IMPALA

SANTA BARBARA BOWL

01 NOVEMBER, 2013

Could there be a more fortuitous mating than the combination of the Flaming Lips and Tame Impala in the Santa Barbara Bowl for Day Of The Dead? As Wayne Coyne himself observed from stageside: "I wish this could be every day". Our community held up their end, with a nice percentage of the crowd boasting painted faces, and a troop of dancers who entertained between sets, and invading the stage during Tame Impala. Also notable was a memorial set up in the glen to stars that have played the Bowl and since passed, including Bob Marley and Joe Strummer.

 Flaming Lips always rise to an Occasion, (remember their gig at Hollywood Forever Cemetery?), and this was no exception. Kicking off with a Miley Cyrus lookalike perched on top of a bear pouring a bucket of blood on Wayne Coyne in a recreation of Carrie pretty much covers your need to know. As with latter-day Lips shows, it's all about spectacle and the execution of concept, and it rarely gets more executed than that. Musically, it hewed largely to The Terror, devoting almost half the set to their most recent release, and, given the date, couldn't have been more timely. As always, its easy to overlook in the spectacle, but the contributions of core members Michael Ivins, Kliph Scurlock, and Steven Drozd are what keep this spaceship running. Time and again, it was their soundtrack that made this movie work. "Silver Trembling Hands" provided a high point, as well as a knockout combination of "The Terror" into "Race For The Prize". Abandoning the madness of the pit to climb up above provided a majestic view of the proceedings by the time they made it to "Spoonful Weighs A Ton", and all told, there could be no finer way to end a concert season.

old faithful

TAME IMPALA

 Tame Impala, while we've heard them both inside, (Fonda Theater), and outside before, (Golden Gate Park), have never sounded quite as heavenly as inside the confines of the County Bowl. Their waves of sound bounced warmly around the walls of the venerable (WPA-era) structure, and filled all with a warm glow. Aside from cherry-picking their two full-lengths, they found time to drop the bottom out of "Elephant", segueing into Michael Jackson's "Thriller", accompanied by the aforementioned troop of local dancers, and showed off their cover of Flaming Lips "Are You A Hypnotist", joined by main man Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd on drums.

Wayne Coyne lends a hand to Tame Impala