The set list was awesome and included a really great variety
from all of his albums. New Pollution!
Hell Yes! Loser! Blue Moon! Black Tambourine (I like the
streamers on your tambourine)! Devil’s Haircut! Lost Cause! Girl!
E-Pro! Sexx Laws!!! (Which is my
personal fave.)
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Amazingness, 20 Years in the Making
Around the year 2000 or 2001, way back when Beck was
dating Wynona Rider, I cut a picture of the two of them together out of a
gossip rag and taped a picture of my face over hers. I still have the picture. It’s not in a creepy stalker way, I promise.
It’s just shoved in an envelope along with some other fun things I had
collected throughout that year. I was
about 20 years old, and it’s actually kinda cute. I’m just a huge fan of Beck and, like
everyone else who is into him, have been since Loser came out. I even remember the who, where and when of my
purchase of Midnite Vultures. It’s
amazing that I had never seen him live before August 21, 2014. How could I let this happen? I decided NO WAY
was I going to let another show of his pass me by. My finger was on the trigger for the 10 am
presale of tickets. By 10:03, I had two
of them printed out and in my hot little hand (PS – I miss actual tickets and
ticket stubs).
My husband not being much of a Beck fan (!!??), I went to
the show with our buddy Derek. I was
excited to go with Derek. He’s one of
the few friends I have that actually is interested in music in the intense way
that I am. He is up for anything, too,
and because of that he is the kind of person awesome things just happen to. So much so that I packed along with me the album
booklets for Odelay and Guero and a black sharpie on the chance Derek’s Powers
of Awesomeness allowed us to meet Beck (spoiler alert – we didn’t).
To my amazement and delight, despite our place in line at
the gate and the time it took to buy merchandise, food and beer and a wait at
the ATM and port-a-pottys, we still easily got a spot up front at the stage.
So first, Jenny Lewis. I was excited when I heard she was
going to be opening the show. I know her
stuff. We own a Rilo Kiley album and I have really enjoyed her other musical
ventures. And of course there’s always Troop
Beverly Hills (still good, by the way).
Line for line she's the tougher, badass variation of Zooey Deschanel and
is akin to Mary Lou Lord. Her music and
lyrics are catchy, achy, simple and real, and just a little bit gritty. She did a number of songs from her new album
The Voyager, including Just One of the Guys, She’s Not Me and Head Underwater. She had a good time on stage, dancing around
with what looked like a vodka bottle turned wine glass, wore a shirt they were
selling at the merch table and huge purple sunglasses long after it was
necessary. Her stage décor – taken
directly from the stars and soft, cheerful colors that make up The Voyager
album art – is in such stark contrast to the often sad (but again, catchy!)
lyrics that make up Voyager. If the
album is autobiographical, it’s clear the woman’s got some baggage, but I’m
glad she makes songs out of it.
And it’s worth noting that Derek, The Person Awesome
Things Just Happen To, totally was hit on by Ms. Lewis from the stage. It wasn’t like I was just seeing things,
either. He made some “I love you” non-sign
language sign language at her and there was most definitely a positive response
from her. To make this more concrete,
Derek didn’t even comment about it to me.
I saw it myself, gave him a minute to say something and when he didn’t
was like “…are we going to talk about what just happened?” I couldn’t believe
his modesty about it but after I brought it up he allowed himself to be giddy
the rest of the night and even gave her my number via some weird Twittersphere
I’m not familiar with when his phone battery was about to die (sorry Derek – no
call yet). But guys! IT HAPPENED.
And now, the moment I’ve been waiting 20 years for –
Beck.
Swwwoooo-ooon.
Amazing. I’m certain I wore an
idiot grin the whole time.
At the beginning he talked a bit about how smelly it was
(“Do you guys smell that?”) – and indeed between the pot smoke and all the
sweat and BO, it was quite odorous.
Totally appropriate that New Pollution was one of the first songs he
did.
And of course Debra - a favorite of those who love Beck
beyond his most-known hits. The song
everyone waits for to see how he’ll riff.
It was filled with the promise of Beck using his frequent flyer miles to
fly all of us off to somewhere tropical when the music took a Jamaican turn,
and don’t worry, he’ll take care of the fees that may apply. Talk of falsetto being better than baritone sometimes,
and where he’ll take us in his Hyundai in Portland to get a real good meal. Then, forget about Debra, he said. He wants Jenny to come back. And come back she did – Jenny Lewis to the
stage, where a crazysexycool cover of Rod Stewart’s Do Ya Think I’m Sexy was
performed by the two. YES!!
A totally adorable touch to the night was the three little
kids running around the back of the stage.
Kid person or not - and I’m a kid person to the extent of I have two of
my own that I love and adore but everyone else’s…whatever – it was undeniably endearing
when a cover of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean was performed and Beck’s kid
would cover his face in mock shame when Beck would sing “…but the kid is not my
son.”
Finally, I’d be remiss to not mention Edgefield. A fan of McMenamin’s food or not (I
personally am), Edgefield is a fantastic venue.
It remains intimate despite being much bigger than most venues around
the Portland area. It has a secluded and
whimsical feel to it, the ambience perfectly set up to make friends out of
strangers, even if just for a few hours.
One of my favorite parts of going to shows at Edgefield is the loitering
of concert-goers after the music has stopped.
There is always such a sense of comradery. Enjoying a beer while waiting out the traffic.
Wandering the expansive grounds, in the dark, with your drink in hand. It’s such a cool place and my favorite venue
in Portland.
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