Source #	35388
Entered by	Andrew Long
Checksums	md5
Disc Counts	1 / 1
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Date Circulated Date Added	2004-09-01 03/26/2006

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SBD > CDR >

Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire
12/31/02
Beat Kitchen
Chicago, IL

Source: SBD > CDR

79:03

1. Countdown
   Way Out West
2. Capital I
3. Skin
4. Why?
5. Opposite Day
6. Action/Adventure
7. La Orangutan
8. A Belen le Toca
9. Banking On A Myth
10. Two Way Action
11. Headsoak
12. Indiscreet
13. Dear Old Greenland
14. Depression-Pasillo
- Encore -
15. Happy Day
16. Right On Time
17. Eugene




a review:
(Julia Chambers)

Hey everyone!
Here's a run-down of the Beat Kitchen show for those of you unable to make an appearance.

Well, of course the bands were in fine form, lots of energy in the room.  The audience was as
exuberant as I've ever heard.  Lots of loyal fans were present.  It's interesting to note that it
was a very noisy, but well-behaved crowd.  Not much talking during songs, which is always a
welcome relief.  That's usually a sign that everyone is there for the band, not just to hang out
and chat with their friends.  

Anyway, the Quality 6 were only 5 last night.  Chris Green was sadly absent (and a suitably
strange reason for his absence was provided by Kevin, but I won't go into it here).  But Josh
Hirsh, original bassist for both the Q6 and BOF was present, and sat in for the first song.  Kevin
gave us one of his devilishly funny stories (rant? monologue? whatever you want to call it).  

The Q6 finished at about 11:45, and then there was a flurry of activity as the BOF hurried to be
onstage by midnight.  At about 2 minutes 'til, the band was ready to go, and we got a nice little
build up, complete with musical noodlings (a little "waiting for midnight to arrive" improvising)
and a boisterous countdown started by Bird.  Then after much hooting and hollering, they launched
into "Way Out West", the first song of the new year.

The posting on the official site about the show led me to believe that there was going to be a
dusting off of some older tunes, but they pretty much stuck to the current set list.  They did
play "Depression" and "Eugene", but those two still get played pretty regularly.  DON'T GET ME
WRONG!  It was a marvelous set, complete with a little Colin Bunn led latin interlude which
included the song "La Orangutan" and another Los Hombres Perdidos tune which I've heard before but
don't know the title of.

Nora was also sadly absent, and her vocal stylings were missed, but the presence of Colin (and
Josh for a few numbers) added a whole new (yet decidedly old) feel to the arrangements.  Having
Colin on guitar made the set feel very loose and a little raw, yet the abundance of musical skill
present onstage combined to form a powerful and beautiful evening of songs.  During "Greenland"
you could even hear the audience singing Nora's part (and not too badly either!).  

I think the biggest treat for me was the rendition of "Happy Day" that Bird and Colin played.
They played it without using the pickups on their instruments, and instead played straight into
their vocal mics, which gave the song a marvelous sound.  Like listening to an old field recording
from the 30's or 40's.  It was a brilliant ploy.

On more than one occasion, Bird had lyric problems, namely that he was flubbing them.  However,
the grimaces, flailing arms and eye-rolling that accompanied his lyrical lapses were quite
entertaining.  Even when he messes up, he still sounds better than most performers out there.

We also got to see the return of L'il Smokey (his electric mandolin), which I personally haven't
seen him play in over a year.  He brought it out for "Indiscreet" (if I remember correctly), and
it sounded great, but he seemed to be having a little trouble with it.  

The audience was in ecstasy, the bands were hot and sweaty and it was a perfect end to, and
beginning of the year!

So, I know a lot of you out there had your fingers crossed for a recording of the show, and there
is one out there.  I wasn't able to record it myself, someone got to the board before I did, and
my brand new microphone wasn't working.  BUT, I made the guy who recorded it promise to get me a
copy, which I will gladly forward to anyone who's interested.

There were some other candyshoppers there and I expect them (you know who you are) to report in as
well...to add to, or contradict my very biased account of the evenings doings.

Julia

PS- On a side note, present at the club last night was one of Andrew's siblings, his younger
brother Christian.  Those of us who met and talked to him after the show debated on the subject of
a family resemblance, which, to me, was clear when they were standing side by side...and smiling.


another review:
(Joshua Smelser)

Okay, so here's my review of the New Year's Eve show at The Beat
Kitchen:

I was wandering around the city lost all day and didn't want to miss
the show (I mean that why I flew up and all), so I headed to the
venue a little earlier than planned.  I got there at about 7:45pm and
ordered some food.  I asked the waitress where I could pick up my
ticket that I ordered on-line and she said they weren't set up yet.  
So as I ate my dinner I saw fan by fan trickle in.  Now there weren't
but 15 tables and the bar, so space was limited.  The concert was in
the back room, so I thought I was pretty safe to have a table near
that door.  I got to speak with Kevin and Andrew before the show.  
Kevin told me that he had been in rehearsal all day for a play that
he was writing music for.  He said that he had to have it recorded by
Friday, so he was quite busy.  I asked him if he was coming to
Nashville on the 11th and he initially said yes.  But then he told me
that we actually won't be there for the show, he's coming in the next
week because Andrew won't need him until then (I guess Andrew is
doing some recording while he is in Nashville). About 8:30 the place
was filled and a line formed from the back room to the front
entrance.  People were starting to get a little irritated because
nobody had tickets and there was no organization as to how people
were going to be let in.  Well, at about 9:15 I heard a whisper that
if you went up to the front and got your hand stamped by the owner
you could get in, so I did such.  I claimed my space at the front of
the stage and waited.

The opening band, Pedal Steel Transmission, wasn't bad but not really
my cup of tea.  I liked their last song, but that was all that really
caught my interest.  Next up was the Quality Six! It was a great set,
Josh Hirsch was called up for the first song. After that it was just
Andrew Bird, Kevin O'Donnell, Colin Bunn, Josh Bell, and a upright
bassist who I didn't catch the name of. During the beginning of the
show Kevin noted that Chris Greene wasn't there and he'd tell why
later.  At the beginning of Mope Kevin went into a hilarious
monologue about the reason Chris wasn't there.  I can't type it word
for word for it was almost pornographic, but soooo funny.  He told us
how Chris and he were lovers and that they recently broke up. He said
that he couldn't play with him on stage at the same time because he
would remember all the times that they spent together, Chris' fingers
twirling through Kevin's chest hair and they way Chris would grasp
Kevin's buttocks.  He later elaborated that they have both now
decided they like girls.  I'm sure Kevin's girlfriend would have
loved to hear the story. The last song they played was "El Cuarto de
Tula" which is a Latin tune I have heard the Bowl of Fire play back
in the olden days. You can find it on a Buena Vista Social Club CD, I
think it's about fire breaking out in a girl named Tula's bedroom.  

The Bowl of Fire started right with the New Year.  From the setlist
you can see they only played 2 old BOF songs.  Colin had made a
comment at some time about the blurb being put on the website "due to
lack of content".  I think Kevin told me at one time that Colin was
doing the website now instead of Josh Hirsch.  They brought Josh
Hirsch & Josh Bell on stage for the Latin "party-songs" "La
Orangutan" & "A Belen le Toca". Later on came "How Indiscreet".  Does
anyone else know that when the old band was together the song was
called "The Afterschool Special"? I was asking Julia if she knew why
they changed the name, but she wasn't sure. Maybe I'll ask Andrew if
I make it to Nashville next weekend. Andrew whipped out his electric
mandolin which he attempted to play with a Kinko's card.  Colin gave
him a pick but that didn't seem to work very well either.  Andrew
jokingly made a comment that playing the electric mandolin was his
new career. It was also brought up that there will be a few shows the
next month...a show with Jelly (or Jellyfish, can't remember), a
Quality Six show, and the release of "Weather Systems" on April 1st
(with the release party being at the Old Towne School of Folk
Music).  The encore of "Happy Day" with the intro of "Precious Little
Gold Nugget" was played much to the delight of many fans.

Well, that was about the sum of it!

+ + +

Bowl Of Fire, Quality Six
with Pedal Steel Tranmission
$20 advance, $25 day of show, 9 PM,
included champagne toast at midnight, 21+