Belle & Sebastian w/ New Pornographers @ 9:30 Club, 03.05.06
EVERETT: Today is a milestone day in the world of Good Weather For Airstrikes. You may ask yourself why this is, and I will explain. The reason for today being so special is this: it is officially the eleven-day anniversary of our Good Weather For Airstrikes trip to see Belle & Sebastian and The New Pornographers! Now, you me ask yourself, why does this guy feel it is so important that today is the eleven day anniversary of this concert? And again, I will explain: this is the day that our review of the show finally gets posted! Why did it take so long? Because we’re lazy! YEAH!
So, on to the magical night of music and passion and smiling and no quesadillas (touchy subject): Two Mondays ago, on March 6, the Good Weather For Airstrikes staff saw Belle & Sebastian and The New Pornographers at Washington, DC’s 9:30 Club. We were accompanied by All Things Go’s Zack, Austin, and Adrian, the lovely underage duo of Claire and Suzanne, and the slightly less lovely but equally lovable Avi. The night began with us being unfortunately late to The New Pornographers (we missed their first two songs, “Twin Cinema” and “Use It”), so I’m going to summarize briefly their performance below.
The New Pornographers performed without guitarist Dan Bejar (off promoting his band Destroyer’s excellent new album, Rubies) or vocalist Neko Case (off promoting her excellent new solo album, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood), so it was not exactly the best ever New Pornographers show, if you catch my drift. Of course, I don’t mean to take anything away from A.C. Newman, who is arguably my favorite pornographer new or old, but the evening’s lineup did seem to have a little something missing. Neko’s absence was felt the most, as keyboardist Katherine was supposed to take over her vocal duties, but she had lost her voice and was unable to answer the call to duty. Anyway, the band sounded great regardless, but I couldn’t help but feel like I could have gotten the same experience just playing one of their albums really loudly in my room, especially due to the fact that the female vocals were just Neko’s recorded voice brought to the front of the mix and played through the P.A. They mimicked the sound of their album almost too well, and though I must admit that is an accomplishment in its own right, I go to shows with the expectation of seeing something a little bit different, a little more spontaneous, and the closest A.C. Newman and crew came to that was when Newman started whining about a cut on his finger. Though Newman did provide some much-needed comedic relief when he went on a rant about Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights, and the state of music today. Anyway, they were fun, and their entire set can be downloaded here and here (credit to So Much Silence for those tracks).
No disrespect intended towards the New Pornographers, but Belle & Sebastian was the real reason we all went to the show, and we were not disappointed. They played a great set, playing many old favorites (”I’m A Cuckoo” and “If You Find Yourself Caught In Love”, to name a couple), a less common live song (”Your Cover’s Blown”), and of course, all the favorites from The Life Pursuit (”Another Sunny Day”, “Funny Little Frog”, “White Collar Boy”, etc.). 
I was skeptical at first when they chose to open the show with “Expectations”, but by the end of it I could safely say it had become one of my favorite Belle & Sebastian songs. They immediately launched in to “Another Sunny Day”, and to be honest the rest of the performance was basically a blur of musical ecstasy for me. Highlights for me were “Electronic Renaissance”, “Funny Little Frog”, “Your Cover’s Blown”, and “I’m A Cuckoo”, though I genuinely felt that every song choice was impeccable and translated excellently live. I apologize for my inability to describe the experience as eloquently as Belle & Sebastian deserve, but to make up for it I’m offering you, the readership, my usual penance for my various writing blunders: downloadable content!
NPR continued their excellent Live Concert Series, recording a variety of shows that go through the 9:30 Club, by taping, and later offering for mp3 download, the Belle & Sebastian and New Pornographers performances in their entirety (read what NPR has to say about the show here). Austin from All Things Go took on the difficult task of breaking up the hour and a half mp3 into individual tracks for easier public consumption, so keep an eye out for ATG’s review of the show with those downloadable tracks and be sure to thank him when they eventually get that post up. However, we’ve got some special Belle & Sebastian-related treats for you as well, so I’ll let Derek do what he does best and bring the downloadable hotness for you all.
DEREK: Available for download below is what is recognized in B&S fan circles as the band’s best live bootleg out there, titled Our Favourite Party Songs, which was recorded live in Holland on March 31st, 2004. The sound quality is stellar, after all it is technically a liberated bootleg (basically just a high-quality, mass-produced bootleg, typically released illegally by a pseudo-record company), and the setlist is equally fantastic as well, which you can see for yourself below. I’ve made every song available as an individual mp3 below, and I also uploaded the entire file to Rapidshare (available for download HERE), so as to make it easier for people to download the whole thing if they’re so inclined. But that’s not all! Also included for no additional charge is a fantastic bonus B&S rarity, “Meat and Potatoes”, which was featured as the b-side to the “Funny Little Frog” single. Download away:
DOWNLOAD (.zip file):
Our Favourite Party Songs [follow link] - Belle & Sebastian
DOWNLOAD (individual mp3s):
01. Passion Fruit
02. Expectations
03. Step Into My Office Baby
04. Wrapped Up In Books
05. The Model
06. I’m Waking Up To Us
07. You Made Me Forget My Dreams
08. You Don’t Send Me
09. You’re Just A Baby
10. Dog On Wheels
11. Slow Graffiti
12. I’m A Cuckoo
13. If You Find Yourself Caught In Love
14. Stay Loose
15. Wrong Girl
16. Dirty Dream Number Two
17. Sleep The Clock Around
BONUS MP3: “Meat and Potatoes” - Belle & Sebastian