Ive been wanting and waiting to see The Magnetic Fields live for a while now, and this being their first tour and album since 2004 I can be assured that I wasnt the only one. This was also the first show Id seen at Town Hall, which is odd given its extreme proximity to my place of work. I really like the venue; its a smallish theatre with old red cloth seats, wider than it is long. As I was fighting the nasty super flu thats going around the city and given the intimacy of the show, I was really pleased to find it a seated show. I go to a lot of shows alone and find that sometimes its better to sit down when youre by yourself – for some reason.
The opener was somewhat unconventional, but very cool. It was a live performance of audio theatre, and it was engrossing. The Interstellar Radio Company consists of three stage performers; an actor, sound effects guy, and a musician on accordion that night. They perform a script with multiple characters and hundreds of effects, in real time. The speed and accuracy with which they performed twenty minutes of highly intricate maneuvers – it was very impressive and so entertaining. I could definitely stand seeing this radio company again.
The Magnetic Fields took the stage in an orderly fashion. They were lined up across the front of the stage, seated. As is their style, it was more like a recital than a rock show. They introduced a new female vocalist to the band and jumped right in with her singing lead on the new California Girls. Shes pretty good, her voice is slightly nasally, sort of cartoonish, in other words, her sound fits in perfectly. Cant remember her name for the life of me though.
Although the set was a good mix of older and newer stuff, it was obvious that this tour is all about the new album, Distortion. They did some songs off 69 Love Songs like All My Little Words and the beautiful Come Back from San Francisco. We also heard I Dont Believe You off of i, and Scream and Run Away, which is actually a Gothic Archies tune. As for the new album I thought that Xavier Says was very well played.
My favorite part of the show had to be when they played Papa Was a Rodeo though. I just love that song, and I couldnt believe I was actually hearing it live. Its a pretty great thing when that happens, I guess its part of the reason we go to shows, to hear the song that may never get played.
