October 7, 2008
Photos: Beck at Aragon Ballroom
We heard that last Thursday's Beck show at Aragon was the pits, so we went into Friday's appearance in the same room with great trepidation. Well, whatever went wrong Thursday went incredibly right Friday since it was by far the strongest set we've ever seen the blonde lanky folkie / hip-hop / troubadour / experimentalist / punk / musical dumpster diver turn in. Yes, it was even better than that time we saw him backed by The Flaming Lips. Beck turned in a raw, energetic, cohesive set drawing largely from his more popular material and delivered it to a crowd that went from being merely appreciative to largely rabid. We had a blast. Hell, we had so much fun we forgot just how much we hate the acoustics of the Aragon!
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Anyone have access to a setlist for the FRIDAY show? It was megahot.
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Greg Kot has it on his blog:
http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2008/10/beck-review-at.html
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Doh thats thursday, sorry
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That's Thursday's set list he has ... Friday's was actually better!
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I don't know, I have to disagree with your review. I found Beck's performance incredibly phoned in. For many of his popular songs where I've seen him get crazy and wild onstage, he seemed stiff and bored with the arrangements. I also had a hard time getting into his new backing band. It seemed like most of the harmonica parts I've seen Beck pull off in the past were delegated to the multi-instrumentalist keyboard player.
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I thought Beck was on point Thursday night, though it was the first time I've seen him live so I have nothing to compare it to.
MGMT, on the other hand, were a complete disappointment. No stage presence whatsoever.
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I saw them on Thursday and couldn't get over how terrible the sound was at the Aragon. That has to be the worst place to see a show in Chicago.
And, did MGMT raid Tweedy's closet when they got into town?
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i get the feeling that a band can get up on stage and urinate in tankboy's ears and he would write that it was the best shit he's ever heard. i have yet to read a "review" that left the dude disappointed.
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I love Beck as much as the next gal, but he's gotta get rid of that hair. It makes him look like a 13-year-old girl. =X
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jmagic, I've panned plenty of shows -- Amy Winehouse immediately comes to mind since I caught so much flack for that one -- but it is true that I tend to cover shows with bands I might actually like. I see plenty of crap bands, I just don't tend to want to give them press.
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I was at Lindsey Buckingham. . .all I can say is the man is old but gives one hell of a live show.
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Did he play "Holiday Road?"
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panning Amy Winehouse is like saying George W. sucks as president. i'm not trying to knock your hustle so to speak, but i'm just sayin that it's proper to be critical at times.
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jmagic, keep in mind that review was written back when she was a critical darling and hadn't had her public meltdown yet. I got a lot of hate mail saying I didn't understand her as an artist blah blah blah. In fact, I think mine was the first negative review to appear on her.
And you can ask a lot of bands about me and they'll be more than happy to let you know how critical I can be. However, on Chicagoist when it comes to arts coverage we try to accent things we enjoy rather than promote things we don't. That isn't to say we don't run the occasional negative opinion, but for the most part I don't see the need to.