Rotown, Rotterdam
24/02/04
There’s something magical about that first moment when Andrew Bird moves his shoeless foot over towards his pedals adorning the floor, and suddenly there is a small orchestra building up, and bursting through the speakers. The science of delay pedals and loop effects isn’t exactly particle physics, but it is rare for it to be used in such an exciting way, with one man on stage basically jamming with himself, and gradually floating away, lost in the sounds he is generating.
Unleashing a humble voice that takes on the best qualities of both Thom Yorke and Jeff Buckley without ever veering close enough to imitate them, this should be his most powerful tool available to use. But no. With a guitar hanging off the shoulder, a xylophone sitting innocently in front, the aforementioned pedals on the floor next to his stripey socks, and of course a violin in his other hand, manipulated into becoming a guitar, bass, drums and even a traditionally morose violin when necessary, there is too much wonder occurring to praise just one skill over the others. The engineering of this one-man band alone is enough to stop an audience in its tracks, but at the heart of it, it’s the beauty of the music that captivates over the long term.
On the night, the songs were primarily from recent EP/album Weather Systems, and once you have heard both the recorded and live versions of the tracks, you’ll never be able to lie back and think of them as two-dimensional songs ever again. It’s so easy to get lost in multi-track recording and infinite takes, but witnessing these songs come to life right in front of your eyes, Andrew Bird simply comes across as a virtuoso - currently a well kept secret, but destined to continue wowing fresh audiences picking up new fans with performances so unique and interesting as this.
From opener ‘First Song’ to the groove that was borne of ‘Action-Adventure’ to the weeping closer of ‘Happy Birthday’, it was a beautiful journey, and even suffering from technical issues, left plenty of sights and sounds to be remembered and cherished.
Clem Snide were a different proposition, though, and whether or not they had endured some additional Dutch stimuli to loosen them up, they were in the mood to rock out. With three out of four dressed smartly in suits, and singer Eef Barzelay sliding across the floor in a shirt that seemed too freshly ironed for a band that has been on tour in Europe for almost a month, the band took on a selection of songs from their previous albums keeping the audience wholly satisfied. It is guitarist, Pete Fitzpatrick who is the most hypnotic to watch, though. Dressed only in worn out combats and a well scrunched shirt, he looks like he’s fallen onto the wrong stage, yet as he fumbles around with the pedals and dials, making weird noise come out of his Suzuki Omnichord, switching to an electric banjo that’s distorted to the point of mutilation, the occasional blast from a euphonium, or even just rocking on his traditional Strat, he creates layers of sound that really bring the Clem Snide live presence to a new level and keep the interest levels high. Through this, the band pulled off a solid performance of high energy segments such as their cover of Christina’s ‘Beautiful’, as well as the older, slower numbers like ‘African Friend’.
When Clem Snide want to rock out they actually share more in common with the emotionally charged Death Cab For Cutie than the typical alt-country crowd, and it’s a pleasing dimension to their show, which was played with charisma and good humour. They even captured Andrew Bird as the evening was closing to perform a new song laced with Latin rhythms and the captivating sounds of a violin duelling with a banjo. A fine combination to demonstrate an extraordinary evening of music.
Steven McCarron
Photo: Morna Macleod
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