Sunday night, I got the chance to see one of my favorite bands, Belle and Sebastian live for the 2nd time. They played to a sold-out crowd at the Orpheum theater in MPLS.

The New Pornographers opened. Now, I've long been told to check this band out, but had never done so. Last week I got my hands on their new CD. Gave it a few spins to get acquainted. I enjoyed them live, but I thought they were a bit blah. They may have just grown tired of being the opening act, but they seemed to just be cranking out the songs and going through the motions. Pleasant and all, but nothing too notable, IMO.

They cleared off the stage and it was time to hit the merch table. After much debate I decided on the shirt below. (which I'm wearing today and it looks MUCH better on me, hee hee)



Then it was time for the main event. We had sweet seats in the 4th row of the balcony, center. And there they were.



I LOVE THIS BAND!!

From the moment they took the stage, I was mesmerized. They sound just as gorgeous live as they do on CD. I was a titch disappointed in the crowd, though. Everyone was sitting on their asses. I was rocking mine doing the chair dance party. I think I actually bruised myself from all the bouncing, but what can you do. It was especially rough as they tore through an insanely dancey version of Electronic Renaissance from their first CD followed by a groovetastic rendition of Sukie In The Graveyard from their latest.

The singer started taunting the crowd a bit for not dancing and being so polite. Thank God he took the initiative to take control. They shocked me by playing Your Cover's Blown. I was bouncing myself right out of the seat. It's a surpisingly funky song that was my favorite track of 2004. It was only a b-side though, so I had no hopes of hearing it live. And my am I happy they did it as it was LEAGUES better in person. At the first transition in this song, the singer gave us permission to stand. So, stand and dance I did through the rest of the show. Thankfully the people around me had been chair dancing as well, so our area was having a great time.

Beyond the perfect song selections, spanning every album, the band themselves were hugely entertaining. They had a lot of HIGHlarious banter between songs. This played a huge role in their encore. They came back on-stage and started asking for requests. The crazy thing was, I believe they REALLY had no set-list at this point. When someone yelled out Me And The Major, the crowd went crazy so that's what they played. It was spontaneous and awesome.

Because this is the org, I'll make the Prince connection. Now, any band worth it's salt finds SOME way to mention li'l Princey when playing MPLS. The singer started taunting the guitarist to play Purple Rain. Then he listed some other songs. Then he suggested they could do "U Got The Look" with the guitarist as Prince and he singing for Sheena Easton. He quickly changed his mind noting that Sheena was from Scotland "and she was a horrible girl"

I was DYING.

So, I'm not a set-list kinda guy, but here are some other tracks which were played but I haven't mentioned yet:
Another Sunny Day
White Collar Boy
Drss Up In You
To Be Myself Completely
We Are The Sleepyheads
My Wandering Days Are Over
I'm A Cuckoo
Piazza, New York Catcher
The Stars Of Track And Field
Judy And The Dream Of Horses
Meat and Potatoes

I'm sure I missed some, but whatevs.

While I love the band as a whole, I must make one more special mention of Stuart, the lead singer and guitarist and whatever else he does. Between his gorgeous accent and his spazzztastic white-boy dancing, I AM IN LOVE.



So that's about it. Post-show a bunch of us headed to the gaybar next door (Saloon for those who know) for 80s dancing and free drinks. A damn good night just kept on going. We actually even managed to pour ourselves into a cab before the blizzard hit too!

So, that's that. My 2006 concert year is off to a fantastic start. Anyone else catch them live on this tour? Anyone else loving the new CD? I'd love to keep talking about it!

Great review, Darin.

Your Cover's Blown also blew me away. I was so excited to hear that, along with the 2 songs off Tigermilk. Incidentally, Electronic Renaissance is my least favorite song on that album, but I loved loved LOVED it live.

I had a great time. And yes, between the Scottish accent and his little man dances, I'm totally in love with Stuart too. Katy and I talked about it all the way home.

CarrieMpls said:

Isn't that CRAZY? I often now will skip that song when listening to Tigermilk. I even thought of using it for my bathroom break during the show. But after a minute I was glad I hadn't ran out as it was a whole new song live, simply sublime.

So, Belle and Sebastian have a Q&A portion to their site. I believe they take turns answering a question each day. Anywho, the following was just updated:

Q.You guys were so good in Minneapolis! Right after the show, we had a big blizzard, really terrible. Did you get caught in it? P.S. Please come back soon!!!!

A. You don't say. Stuart and I thought we were being smart by flying to Dallas, and ended up stuck at Minneapolis airport for a total of 9 hours.

Sarah - 15/03/06


Poor kitties, stuck in the snow!

awwwww.... poor things.