Great, great rock show on Thursday night, people. First Avenue (not even sold out--'s sad) Liz Phair was in fine, fiiiiine form. She is a fine lady. Dressed in a sexy almost bodice-like top and a ragged denim mini skirt with cool black boots, she had her “I’m fun,“ AND “I’m hot” look going (this comes from that NYT review of her show in NYC a few weeks ago that was filled with requests from the audience!) Her voice sounded perfect--womanly, low, accessible and capable of more than she’s given credit for, even if there was a echo-effect going on with her mic..?
The main thing I have to emphasize is that everyone around me, including myself, had large, satisfied smiles on their faces of most of the show. I say most, because unfortunately, Phair did pull some clunkers out from "Somebody's Miracle." Most horrible was, "Lazy Dreamer"--possibly the worst song she's ever written, as Rowie said (I agree). Just boring, uh--LAZY music and insipid lyrics. During this train-wreck, for example, a huge chunk of the audience when to the bar or the can. This followed Ro's favorite song, and one of my top ones, too: The Keef riff-ladden "Mesmerizing." Just a weird move--See what heights I achieved? See what lows I can create? Strange.She rocked quite a surprising number or songs off of "Exile" as well as "Whitchocolatespaceegg."
The highlights: "Soap Star Joe," "Divorce Song," "Baby Got Going," "6'1"," "Help Me Mary," and the perfectly comical, satiric just-Liz-at-the-piano, "Chopsticks." At times I kept having the thought, "does she ever wonder--'wow, *I* wrote these words. how cool am I?' Or as Cate would say, "She must be so proud of herself."She looked proud, too. When I talk about all the smiles, I think it started with Liz and her infectious, thin-lipped growl-smile, which she bares throughout almost all of her performances. Although it seems geniune, it also seems like she's alwasy hiding something--always a step ahead of you. Who is she actualy singing about when she says "I" and when she takes on certain roles, are any of them her? Who the hell is Liz Phair and what does she want her music career to ultimately be remembered for? She's a fucking Scientologist? Wha--? She keeps it all hid, as they say...
*To top off "weird coincidences tied into my blogging shit" she actually did an almost-cover of "There She Goes." Someone yelled it out as a request and she said, "Hey, that's not mine, but that's a great song," and proceeded to sing a few lines. Very sppppoooookkkyy.*
No comments:
Post a Comment