Andrew Bird Provides Hope

Queen Elizabeth Theatre

Toronto, ON

on Apr 3 2009

Ian Gormely (CHARTattack)

04/06/2009 12:59pm

Walking around the CNE grounds on a cold, wet night is kind of like being lost in a dystopian future. It's dark, no one's around and grey concrete surrounds you. Andrew Bird's show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre was like a small beacon of hope in the middle of hell.

Despite stylistic differences in their music, openers A Hawk And A Hacksaw were an apt choice for Bird. Main man Jeremy Barnes once served time as the beat keeper in Neutral Milk Hotel, a band to whom Bird (and pretty much every other band eschewing the guitar, bass and drums standard) owes a huge debt. Barnes has since moved on, trading in his sticks for an accordion and lo-fi indie rock for Balkan folk.

The four-piece, including frequent collaborator Heather Trost on violin and hired guns on trumpet and tuba, are accomplished musicians and are obviously fairly immersed in the culture they're borrowing from. But with a 45-minute set, the mostly instrumental songs create one homogenous sound and they came dangerously close to wearing out their welcome.

Bird took the stage alone to rapturous applause, flanked by a series of large wooden gramophone speakers on either side. He took his place at the microphone with an array of loop pedals at his feet and quickly laid down a series of tracks on his violin and launched into "Darkmatter" from 2007's breakthrough Armchair Apocrypha.

Bird's three-piece band soon joined him and the quartet alternated tunes from this year's Noble Beast with selections from Armchair and 2005's The Mysterious Production Of Eggs. Bird also treated the nearly sold-out hall to renditions of the rarely played "The Happy Birthday Song" and "Dr. Stringz," which Bird wrote for the Jack's Big Music Show children's television program.

After 13 years of performances, Bird appears completely at home in front of an audience. He milks the lyrical and musical pauses in his compositions for all they're worth. He wore an icy look early on, but warmed up throughout the performance.

Several crowd members barked out to him, trying to break down the wall between artist and audience, but the barrier wasn't broken until a woman in the back yelled "mutha-fuckin' yeah!" in response to one of his performance selections and Bird burst out laughing.

Bird and band left the stage after an hour-and-a-half to a standing ovation before returning for a brief two-song encore to cap a fantastic evening.