I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: August 3, 2017] Belle and Sebastian

Sarah and I saw Belle and Sebastian back in 2015 at Radio City Music Hall.  The show was great and we had a really fun time.  I knew we’d enjoy seeing them again, so I was surprised and pleased to see that they were playing the Mann Center (even if I said we wouldn’t go back and this was now show number three).

The venue was perfect for the band, and Stuart at least seemed to really appreciate the sound and warmth of the shell.  Astonishingly, the show was nowhere near sold out.  One of the guards told me they’d barely sold 3,000 tickets.  What the hell?   That explains how I was able to get row R or whatever we had.

So the band had no new album to promote (although they did recently release a new song).  I wondered what they’d be playing and if it would be basically the same show as last time.

Indeed it was very different from last time.  The last show heavily promoted their then new album Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance with five songs from that record.  This time they played but one song from it (and Sarah was a little bummed as she really likes that album.  At the very least we expected them to play “The Party Line,” a super catchy song from that album.

But they repeated almost nothing from the previous show.  Between the two shows there were over 30 songs and they repeated only 4 songs.  They even busted out some songs that I consider rare, although who knows how often they have actually played them.

Like last time, though, there were a ton of people on stage: four string players in the back left as well as trumpeter. The rest of the band (five of whom have been with the band since the beginning) included:

Sarah Martin who played a ton of instruments: keyboards, possibly cello, certainly guitar, possibly percussion and some backing (and one lead) vocal.  Chris Geddes was in the back on keyboards.  Richard Colburn played a mean drum kit and this time I could actually see him.  Bobby Kildea (left) played bass and electric guitar.  We joked because he never moved at all, and I gather that that’s what he’s known for [Wikipedia: He is the band’s only Northern Irish member and is notable for his laid back demeanor and long hair.]  There’s also Dave McGowan, who plays guitar and bass (to the left of Bobby).

And then of course there is Stevie Jackson, the lead foil to Stuart Murdoch, the center of attention.

Last time the show opened with an amusing video clip from a woman announcing the band.  This time there was no opening clip (even though our seats were far up we were just far enough to the side that part of the screen was blocked for me).  There were a lot of videos that ran on the screen, although more often there just seemed to be cool visuals.

They played three songs from 2006’s The Life Pursuit, opening with “Act of the Apostle,” a delightful surprise for me.  The newer mode of Belle and Sebastian has been for poppier songs, so they followed up the first song with the incredibly catchy “I’m a Cuckoo” (watch Stuart play guitar and then Sarah run up and take it from him).  This was one of the repeated songs and one that I certainly didn’t mind hearing again–from the riff to the line about Thin Lizzy, the song is great.

Stuart did a lot of chatting with the audience.  He made a joke about the Pope coming to Philly and how the NFL draft attracted more people.  There was a pay off to this later when someone in the audience gave Stevie her bracelet from the Pope’s visit.  Stevie was genuinely moved and said “I’m a Catholic, you see.”  To which Stuart commented, maybe this will get you go to church, then.

They followed up Cuckoo with their new song, “We Were Beautiful.”  I’d only heard it once, and this live version seemed rather different to me.

Stuart thanked the opening bands and said “Young and hip and beautiful, that’s what we used to be.”

They dusted off the (apparently) rarely-played “The Model” from Fold Your Hands, Child, You Walk Like a Peasant a song I really like and which I enjoyed seeing Stevie and Stuart trade lead vocals on.  I also enjoyed that they played “If She Wants Me”with the falsetto notes that Stuart hit easily.

And then Stevie introduced a new song that he sang called “Sweet Dewelee.” It was a rather mellow number that got a lot of people sitting down.  And then as an incredibly rare treat, Stuart sat at the keyboard and played “Fox in the Snow” from If You’re Feeling Sinister.  He sang of cooler nights on the rather hot Philadelphia evening.

They went all the way back to Tigermilk for “My Wandering Days Are Over” one of the many songs where the trumpet stood out nicely.  And then there was the wonderful duet with Sarah: “Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John.”

One of the bigger surprises came when Stuart came to the front of the stage with his keytar.  And after talking about how he couldn’t help dancing, he played some lead on “Play for Today” the only song from Girls in Peacetime (one they didn’t play last time).  And I love that they projected Dee Dee Penny’s face on the screen to sing backing vocals.

I never really thought of The Boy with the Arab Strap as being a more notable album.  The played three songs from it last time and three from it this time, including the brief “A Summer Wasting.”  And then came the bigger surprise.

The started the title song “The Boy with the Arab Strap” and before I knew it, Stuart was out in the audience walking along the back of the divider between the front and middle sections.

He grabbed dozens of people and pulled them up on stage to dance along with the next two songs.  So even though I loved our seats, if we had been on the other side of the building in the same rows, we probably would have gotten up on stage too.  Not that I wanted to dance, but at the end, everyone was getting high fives from Stuart which was pretty cool.

I had forgotten that they had done a similar stunt in Radio City to the same two songs.

Like last time, this song was followed by the tremendous “I Didn’t See It Coming,” Sarah Martin’s turn to take lead and a real highlight.

They left for the encore and came back with “Another Sunny Day.”  It was bright and fun and they had a delightfully cheerful orange spotted background for the song.

They ended with a song from their debut, a bouncy and fun song with the completely unfun and unbouncy title “Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying.”

When they came back out to way bye, we noticed that Stuart was wearing the cool Shepaerd Fairery shirt.

The show was a lot of fun, although the set felt rather short to both of is (I see they did played quite a lot of songs).  We were pleased to be getting home early and then we were plagued by yet another Mann Center curse.

Coming home from Fleet Foxes  a few days earlier, we took the route that would send us on the PA TPK which is a little longer but nicer than driving 95.  Well, holy crap if they whole thing wasn’t under construction for some 12 miles.  Down to one lane, about 15 MPH.  It took forever to get home.  So this time, since it was just a few days later we knew not to go that way but guess what?  The two entrances to 95 were closed.  Just CLOSED.   No signs, no explanations, no detours, just barrels in the way.  WTF!  We certainly weren’t going to go through the TPK traffic again, so we wound up taking Rte 1.  It was a little faster than we feared but still, it was 45 MPH with traffic lights rather than the expressway.

The curse of the Mann center strikes again!

Radio City Music Hall 2015	The Mann Center 2017
Nobody’s Empire (GiPWtD)	Act of the Apostle (TLP)
I’m a Cuckoo (DCW)	I’m a Cuckoo (DCW)
The Party Line (GiPWtD)	We Were Beautiful [new]
The State I Am In (Tigermilk)	The Model (FYH)
Dirty Dream Number Two (TBwtAS)	If She Wants Me (DCW)
Perfect Couples (GiPWtD)	Sweet Dewelee [new]
Piazza, New York Catcher (DCW)	The Fox in the Snow (IYFS)
Allie (GiPWtD)	My Wandering Days Are Over (Tigermilk)
The Cat With the Cream (GiPWtD)	Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John (WaL)
If You’re Feeling Sinister (IYFS)	Play For Today (GiPWtD)
The Wrong Girl (FYH)	A Summer Wasting (TBwtAS)
Dear Catastrophe Waitress (DCW)	The Boy with the Arab Strap (TBwtAS)
If You Find Yourself Caught in Love (DCW)	I Didn’t See It Coming (WaL)
The Boy with the Arab Strap (TBwtAS)	Sleep the Clock Around (TBwtAS)
I Didn’t See It Coming (WaL)	encore
Sleep the Clock Around (TBwtAS)	Another Sunny Day (TLP)
encore	Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying (IYFS)
Lazy Line Painter Jane (LLPJ)
Judy and the Dream of Horses (IYFS)