Wilco @Keyspan Park, July 13th

I was originally thinking no to this show; times are tough, and I had just seen Wilco twice in December opening for two very expensive Neil Young shows. Plus, shlepping out to Coney Island is rarely ideal. But then, Yo La Tengo was announced as the opener, so your humble narrator found herself facing the prospect of not seeing two of her favorite bands together on one bill. That would obviously be most incorrect. So I hustled and bustled for a ticket, even to the point of shamelessly asking James McNew of YLT for a ticket sortof (he said no). My patience paid off as this afternoon I landed a ticket for well below face. I made my way to Coney Island, scarfed down a Nathan's hotdog with onions and sauerkraut, and scooted to the stadium. I got there early enough for a nice spot right on the front rail and prepared for an evening of wow.

And WOW I got. Not only were Yo La Tengo superb (I could have seriously gone home after them and been fine with it), but Wilco once again killed it. They played for nearly 2-1/2 hours, employing a mix of the familiar as well as cuts off their latest self-titled album.

I was pleasantly surprised by the appearance of Feist, who did her duet with Jeff Tweedy on "You And I," and subsequently also by Edward Droste of Grizzly Bear, who lent his voice on backup vocals. Yo La Tengo came back onto the stage to join the boys in "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" to close out the first encore. It. Was. Like. My. Mind. Exploded.

Perhaps most fittingly, Wilco finished the evening with Woody Guthrie's "Hoodoo Voodoo" off their Mermaid Avenue collaboration with Billy Bragg. The always amazing Nels Cline engaged in a guitar solo duel with utility player Pat Sansone -- at this time, it is still unclear who won.

Seriously beautiful and amazing day.


"You And I" with Feist:

Also, "California Stars" (with Feist and Ed Droste) and "Hummingbird."

Revenge of the Book Eaters @Beacon Theatre, Aug. 26th

What a great lineup -- A.C. Newman of The New Pornographers, recent tourmates Grizzly Bear and Feist, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene, and Britt Daniel of Spoon, with affable host Demetri Martin, and guests Sarah Vowell, Leo Allen and Eugene Mirman. This year's show benefiting 826NYC was much more music-oriented and therefore more enjoyable than last year's benefit show.

To sum it up, A.C. Newman is good, but can't replace Neko Case on "Challengers." Grizzly Bear again wowed me with their haunting harmonies -- I must buy their album. Jim James blew me and the rest of the crowd away. Feist not only read beautifully, but sang beautifully ("The Water"). It was strange but cool hearing BSS's "Superconnected" performed with only two members (and Kevin Drew is kinda douche-y, thanking the crowd several times before we even started applauding). And Britt Daniel is such a wonderful crooner.

Here's Britt singing "Black Like Me" from Spoon's latest album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga:

With all this indie rock goodness, you'd think they would have taken advantage of more collaborations, but alas, not really. Feist sang on a Grizzly Bear song, and A.C. joined Britt for a cover of an Alex Chilton song, "Hey! Little Child":


Good times for a good cause.

Feist @Town Hall, June 11th

Less than two weeks ago, I sat in the front row of Town Hall for Bright Eyes, and tonight I had the privilege of sitting in nearly the same spot for the lovely Leslie Feist. I knew it was gonna be a magical night even before we entered the building; SoCo wanted to see if he could get a last minute ticket even if it meant we'd be sitting apart, and luckily, a wonderful woman gave us her extra press ticket in Row M for free. Even the scalpers were in awe of our ticket karma.



Before Feist & Co. came on, the trippy harmonious Grizzly Bear opened. I was eager to catch these funny boys from Brooklyn who've been deemed buzz-worthy by the blogs. Plain and simple, they're weird -- I thought of the Beach Boys on downers and acid -- but beautiful to hear. SoCo, who managed to sit up front with me for a stretch, didn't get into them until a few songs in, but dug them in the end. Here's a clip of their song, "Lullabye":

A funny aside -- the guy who sat next to me told me how before the show he went to buy a Grizzly Bear t-shirt at the merch table and realized that it was the guys from the band. He asked them what they were doing sitting at the table, selling their own stuff, and they said they wanted to see if anyone recognized them, and that he had been the only one so far. Hee hee!

Feist came on around 9:20 and played for about an hour and a half; her set focused mainly on her latest brilliant release, The Reminder, though she did dip slightly into Let It Die. Here she is performing "I Feel It All":


A nice surprise was when she was joined on stage by her beau, Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene who accompanied her on piano for a song. She also played a rockin' version of "Mushaboom":


Feist really wowed me with her live performance. She seemed really comfortable and loose and joked all night long. Not only does her music exhibit so many different influences, but she is adept at playing them well. She can coo with the best of them as well as thrash and get a whole crowd foot-stomping. She reminded me of when I saw Cat Power at Town Hall almost exactly a year ago, perhaps because they are both similar in looks and have voices to die for, but with Feist there was no fear of things spinning out of control; instead, we bopped along and clapped and had an all out good time.