Andrew Bird’s show at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn was everything I hoped it could be, and more.*
*The “more” was plaid pants.
Andrew Bird in New York City, December 2012 by Brittany Hildebrandt
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This has been a really brutal week in a lot of ways, and I’ve pretty much been listening to Bird nonstop in order to get through it. Today’s new song is helping.
Seeing Andrew Bird live is always something to look forward to, but last night’s show at Le Poisson Rouge was a particular treat. Typically I see him at large, beautiful, seated venues - Beacon Theatre, Riverside Church, the Grand Opera House in Wilmington - but LPR is a small club that mostly does general admission shows. So it was a fun change of pace, comparable in my experience only to the secret show at The Bell House a couple years back.
It was also a nice crowd - friendly and polite even in their heckling (”WE’RE HAVING SUCH A GOOD TIME!” “YOU’RE DOING A GREAT JOB!”). Before the show I had started to wonder if maybe I was too old for the bullshit factor inherent in an all-ages standing GA show but I had a total blast and left the venue feeling happier than I would have thought possible.
A couple of shots from the Andrew Bird show at Beacon Theater last night. Matt and I were mostly too transfixed by everything happening on stage to bother taking photos, but we did get a couple.
Since Saturday, I’ve been thinking I should try to explain how incredible the Andrew Bird show was, but I just don’t have the words for it.
So instead I’ll just say how lucky I feel to have seen both the stripped-down preview show at the Bell House before the tour really began, and also the full-blown production of a show that we got at Beacon Theater this weekend. The former had no visual effects at all, no set to speak of, and was even more relaxed and casual than most tiny venue concerts I’ve been to. The latter was a carefully assembled sensory experience, perfect in nearly every detail, with wonderful lighting and sound and a huge music hall crowd.
I’d have a hard time deciding which was better, but I will say that they’re both high on my list of the best concerts I’ve ever attended.
Mister mgmuscari and I visited scenic Delaware this weekend for the purpose of attending an Andrew Bird show at the Grand Opera House. It was just lovely, one of the most pleasant shows I’ve seen in a while. Also, Matt ate scrapple.
The Andrew Bird show last week really got in my head, in a nice way. I’ve been listening to almost nothing but the Fingerlings albums since then, and it was a real treat seeing these photos by Sachyn Mital on Brooklyn Vegan this morning.
I’m in that bottom one, and it’s probably the least flattering photo of ever taken of me, but I don’t mind because I am so clearly having a goddamn blast.
Hold the fucking phone. I just came upon this post and im sleep deprived! I was at this show and had no cluuue he played 4 songs from are you serious. I remembered him playing new stuff but didn’t remember it by the time the record came out. @emmastory thank you so so so much for posting this set list! This is the show from last June, right? Forgive me if this is out of the blue
Yup, this was the LPR show from June 2015! A couple of the then-new songs ended up on YouTube if you feel like hunting around for them. Here’s Truth Lies Low, for example.
This is still one of my favorite shows, along with the semi-secret Useless Creatures show at the Bell House ages ago. I love seeing Bird in a big gorgeous seated venue like Riverside Church or Kings Theatre, but there’s something special about these laid back tiny shows that I also really dig.
Andrew Bird is replying to Facebook comments on this thread and it’s the most precious thing I’ve ever seen.
It’s been a joy to hear the music of Andrew Bird shift and change. Bird’s early music, from the late ‘90s, was steeped in hot jazz and blues music from the early days of the phonograph, then later shifted to new technologies using loop pedals to layer voice, whistling and violin. His lyrics often have a calculated quality, filled with abundant wordplay and observations.
This year, Bird made one of his most personal albums, Are You Serious. So it felt appropriate that he would play some of his most personal work in this most intimate of settings, the Tiny Desk.
WATCH: Andrew Bird Tiny Desk Concert
Last night was pretty much a perfect New York evening, the kind that makes me happier than I can say with my life as it is right now. And I don’t think there’s a better way to spend the evening of the 4th than at a picnic on the roof of the McKittrick, watching fireworks with friends & fellow drunks.
eleven years ago tonight! I believe this was the only 4th of july event the mckittrick has ever had, and it was also the first event held at gallow green.
