Lambchop
Knitting Factory, New York (March 5, 2002)
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Lambchop
Knitting Factory, New York
March 5, 2002 |
Frontman Kurt Wagner, seated at center stage with a guitar, was accompanied by pianist Tony Crow, bassist Matt Swanson, guitarist William Tyler, drummer Sam Baker, and keyboardist/programmer Mark Nevers. The sextet proved quite adept at navigating its way through the spare compositions that make up Is A Woman, and even in the heat of a crowded club, they did justice to its meditative arrangements and subtle moods. A lot of the album's beauty lies in its subtle use of tension and focus on lyrical presentation, and Wagner and co. provided enough of both to do it justice.
The biggest difference in the live setting was the steady rhythm of Baker, which essentially kept the songs and the audience awake. Since a lot of Wagner's new tunes don't even feature drums or busy percussion, rather keeping the beat going with light tapping or even the steady strum of an acoustic guitar, it was welcome to hear Baker deftly using his brushes and adding just the slightest bit of rock to the live proceedings.
Since Is A Woman was only two weeks old at the time of the show, the audience must have had a little bit of a tough time getting used to the fact that the night's set was going to mostly comprise the new material. Even toward the end of the show, shouts of "Up With People!" and "My Face Your Ass!" could be heard in between songs. But Lambchop have continued to progress and change their sound throughout their career, so being open to new stuff is certainly a learned trait for many fans.
One of the show's clear highlights, however, was the reworking of Nixon's "You Masculine You," which was treated to a spate of new lyrics from Wagner. He delivered the song in a normal voice, not very reminiscent of the album version, which is sung entirely in a come-hither falsetto. But this rendition was not wholly an exercise in restraint -- as it neared the end, Swanson and Nevers picked up the song's entrancing string line with fuzzed-out bottom-end bliss, and Kurt leaned back from his mic to emit a few soulful screams in a most heartfelt homage to the song's original choir-led refrain.
The performance was a good example of how Wagner has altered his approach between the 'Chop's last two records, as the Nixon version made good use of the 17-member approach, with call-and-response horn and string parts filling it out. Tuesday's performance, on the other hand, kept things simple in terms of delivery, emphasizing the song's closing swell via its contrast with the more reserved middle section.
Wagner showed his sense of humor a number of times, mockingly addressing the strangely haunting words of "Caterpillar" directly toward an audience member in the balcony: "I have shat upon the hillside / neck deep in cushion clover / up where I'm sure you've braided those necklaces and bracelets," he recited, "but you have lost your socks and panties / out by the caterpillar / that grades the road I walk on / while I'm dreading English." Not really pretty stuff.
But almost conversely, he also revealed a penchant for the dramatic, dropping melody to recite in a speaking voice the final verse of "The Old Matchbook Trick" and, standing on a stool after a quick cigarette break, eschewing the audience's encore requests for older hits like "Up With People" to play the somber, tour-EP track "The Puppy And The Leaf," which he described as "a song none of you have ever heard."
The group then closed with a true-to-form reading of "The Book I Haven't Read," one of the more understated songs on Nixon, which didn't totally satisfy those crowd members pleading for older 'hits', but nonetheless proved an apropos closer -- a heartfelt love song played in the style of new Lambchop, replete with piano flourishes, up-front vocals, and lightly picked guitars.
Whatever else you might say about them, Lambchop do a great job of avoiding classification. Wagner and friends have proven themselves extremely versatile, and this new phase, while perhaps too austere for some young rock tastes, is as original as anything the group has come up with yet, and really allows this band to create some amazing music. Wagner has grown as a songsmith (enough to quit his 15-year-old job laying floors last summer) and showed in concert last Tuesday why he belongs among today's most respected.
Here's Lambchop's set list:
The Daily Growl
The New Cobweb Summer
My Blue Wave
I Can Hardly Spell My Name
Flick
The Old Matchbook Trick
You Masculine You
Caterpillar
Bon Soir, Bon Soir
D Scott Parsley
Bugs
Is A Woman
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The Puppy And The Leaf
Book I Havent Read
TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.