Belle & Sebastian/NPs Live

The New Pornographers and Belle & Sebastian played to a sell-out crowd at NYC's Nokia Theater last night, and it was a magical night of music. For a guy like me, who prefers seedy rock clubs to see bands, it was a real revelation to see a rock-solid professional musical concert, with great lights, wide stage and terrific sound. It's the likes of which I haven't attended in a long time.


photo by yopop77 (taken two weeks ago)

New Pornos were so great, so tight. Not much in the way of action of movement on stage, but geez, the vocals! (and thankfully no Fleetwood Mac covers!) The NPs had 4 singers at once (as did Belle & Sebastian) and all the vocals were crystal clear (kudos to the Nokia Theater sound). Them vocal hooks rolled right out of the system.
The NPs opened with Twin Cinema, and played a bunch of great songs from their three CDs. Spanish Techno was heavenly, Slow Descent rocked fablike, Fake Headlines, the unexpected Execution Day and more.

No encore, but as Carl said, it's always been a matter of trust.

"It's...just...a matter of trust." :-)

During the intermission, I got a chance to say hi and chat with Demitri Martin from the Daily Show. Nice cat. Great hair. :-)


photo by Aphrodite in NYC


Belle & Sebastian opened with Stars of Track and Field, and never let the audience down. I think by show end, they played half of that seminal great CD. Fox in the Snow was gorgeaous beyond words, as was the last song of the regular set The State that I Am In. We also got a delightful Electronic Renaissance from Tigermilk (but no Dylan in the Movies, natch!), I'm a Cuckoo was brilliantly executed, and the disco classic (whose name I can't remember now) was for me the set highlight.

Much thanks to my pal Kev, who dropped a ticket on me and sang every song for both bands last night. He's a star.