November 18, 2007

"I Love You Inside and Out"

Last Wednesday I received 2 free tickets to Feist, so I my buddy JJ ventured on down to the Ogden to see what our girl Leslie had to offer. I hadn't been to the Ogden since my Metal days (or, if you prefer, Metal Daze [Julio knows what I'm talking about ;) ]), so I was all ready expecting this to be a weird night. We got to the theater just in time to get a drink and get down in front, where I ran into a friend, Mackenzie, and her friend, Lindy, and within a minute my group of just JJ and I grew to 6 people (the extra 2 were just 2 random guys who were kind of cool at first) ... all of which rather stoked to see Feist. After a small amount of small talk, Jason Collett took the stage.

I was expecting that, since Jason, much like Leslie, hailed from Broken Social Scene, Jason's set would border on spectacular. In reality, it bordered on mediocre. It's sad when I'm more entertained by an act's stories about the songs than i am with their songs, but not as sad as the fact that the highlight of his set was when Feist came out and played drums. When the highlight of your set is when someone else is on the stage, then we've got trouble. It wasn't bad, but I just don't want to get caught up in the whole "hype them because they came from an amazing band and might be better later" cycle that I have been known to get into. I just wasn't that impressed.

Feist took the stage after a short wait doing her signature vocal looping effect while behind a white sheet, her silhouette matching that of the cover of The Reminder. After that, she stepped out, received the crowd, and began the next song as all the lights went out and two lights hit a disco ball, filling the Ogden with a most magical feeling. After that song the stage lights were brought back up and a shadow-puppeteer person located off stage made little shadow interpretations of Feist's songs which were projected onto the back of the stage. It was pretty much business as usual for Feist and her crew from the point on. At one point someone screamed out "Inside and Out!" and Feist played it, which encouraged everyone else to start screaming out the name of the song that they wanted to hear. I couldn't help myself, so I screamed out "Lovertits!" (a song Leslie did with Peaches, then re-did with Gonzales). This act, something JJ referred to as "obscure at best," caused everyone around me to look at me as though I'd just said something very sexist. To their confusion, Leslie laughed, played a few bars and sang a few lyrics from Lovertits, then laughed some more, and went into the next song. I was happy :).

But by the end of the night, I felt a little unfulfilled. I don't know what it is, because when I listen to live sets and studio recordings and remixes, I love Feist's work, but live ... everything just seemed half-hearted and not fully developed. I got the feeling that Feist has some growth to do still. But I'm happy I went either way. Here's a reason for you to be happy:

Band: Feist
Date: 2005-06-21
Venue: KCRW

Intro
Secret Heart
Gatekeeper
Honey (Tears)
Now At Last
Interview
Mushaboom
Let It Die
Intuition
Outro
Inside and Out

After the show JJ, Mackenzie, Lindy and I took a little trip to Pete's Kitchen to reflect on the show and get some awesome food. It was a great night made better by a show and by friends.

1 comment:

JJ said...

That lover tits was one of the better moments of the year.

we were the only....the only....people in the audiance that knew what shit. and i was classico when she started in on it.

very cool