A couple of weeks back I was bold enough to go see Andrew Bird twice in Amsterdam - in Paradiso’s grote zaal on the Friday, then the following day in the sold out kleine zaal. Both gigs were really good, but the first night was more special for me, despite being there alone.

The set-up was weird firstly. It was advertised as a seated gig, but I guess it sold better than was expected and the plans were semi-changed so that only a scattering of tables and chairs were set out at the front of the stage, leaving the rest of the room standing as usual. It actually turned out better this way, as it meant standing further back from the stage, receiving superior sound quality, but still having no-one in my line of sight as i was directly behind the tables.

Support act Dosh came out perfectly on time, which is always a pleasant surprise at Paradiso, and proceeded to play an enthusiastic set of instrumental looped indie-rock, playing some drums, sampling himself, playing some fender rhodes, sampling himself, playing some more drums, sampling himself, bouncing steel chimes off the floor, sampling himself, playing some organ, sampling himself, fading in some excerpts from a school play he was in once, mucking around with a metal chain, sampling himself, and so on. So a lot of sampling, but he was joking in between songs and really enjoying himself, so the crowd responded pretty well to his instrumentals.

He announces his last song and that Andrew Bird had written lyrics for it recently, but he doesn’t know if he’ll sing them tonight. Well AB comes out a minute or so into the song with his violin and joins in, but he doesn’t sing - just adds violin parts. And before you know it, they’re into the full AB set without a pause, which was another excellent surprise.

Rather different to the previous solo sets I’d experienced, AB seemed to be in the mood to really rock out and played much more guitar than I’ve ever seen. There was still plenty of violin looping as it plays a prominent part of his songs, but it made for less whistling and glockenspiel moments and much more jamming on guitar, which was great because much of the set was very high energy.

Many of the songs from Production of Eggs were unleashed, but with nothing (or maybe just one) from Weather Systems. Then there was the mandatory version of ‘Why?’ which is different every night, but seeing as it’s warped so much since it appeared on The Swimming Hour, it’s hardly comparable to the original.

There were some lovely mess-ups, which always help to relax an audience. In particular, ‘Fake Palindromes’ took around five goes to get after AB forgot the lyrics, and slipped into a Willie Nelson vocal mode, resulting in confusion, laughter and struggles for Dosh and himself to get back into the song. But what was probably most special was the burst of new numbers - something like six in total - with both musicians seemingly extremely proud of the record they had just finished and wanting to share them. Some were rather instant (’Plastic Cities’, ‘Sycophants’ or sick of elephants) while others will need some growing, but with both the main set and encore ending with new songs (’Dark Matter’ and ‘Fiery Demise’? ‘Fiery Death’? Well ‘Fiery something’, respectively) it was rather special.

The next night was good too, but other factors played into it. One being the amount of walking that took place beforehand, and also the lack of food. Another being the uncomfortable heat and lack of air in the smaller room. The set was very different too.

Dosh was back on, pretty much on time, but he seemed a bit more out-of-it on the Saturday. Maybe even like he was sick, as he was blowing his nose a lot later on. All his sampling tricks were still there, but there was almost no talking between songs, and also less flourishes with his little bits and pieces of percussive metal. His set only lasted 20 minutes instead of 30, resulting in a 10 or 15 minute break before AB.

The main set in general felt mellower. It was hard to tell if it was just me, as I had snuck on earplugs this time, but the balance of songs seemed to fall more towards quieter and slower. Weather Systems in particular was back in vogue for this one, which was nice because it’s great to hear a different set, but it meant a major drop in new material. Of which, I think only one or two completely new pieces were played, plus the collaboration with Dosh, which tonight did include the AB singing parts.

Still, no complaints from me. Two nights with one of my favourite artists is always going to be rather exciting, and better to have two very different concerts than relive everything again.

So in tribute to those two performances and the not knowing when either artist will head back this way, here are some bits of media (not from Amsterdam) showing off some new songs to make you feel more involved.

Video: Andrew Bird & Martin Dosh - ‘Sycophants’ (sick of elephants sounds more fun)
Video: Andrew Bird & Martin Dosh - ‘Armchairs of the Apocalypse’
Video: Andrew Bird & Martin Dosh - ‘Plastic Cities’ (see he’s turning into a guitar musician)
mp3: Dark Matter

And so Dosh doesn’t feel left out, here are some tracks from his website.

mp3: Ankle Deep and Rising
mp3: South Finale
mp3: Nothing New

A couple of photos from Paradiso on the Saturday can be found here and here.