The Riviera Theater, Uptown, Chicago

Last night I was walking out of the office when Andrew called to ask what I was doing. He had an extra ticket to the sold out Beck show at the Riv and needed someone to go. I was all over it!

A few years ago in New York some friends and I made plans to go to this huge music fest, Field Day. We were going out to Long Island and camping and seeing a million acts like Radiohead and Beck and I can’t even remember now but there were a lot. Then it all went to hell. The concert promoters didn’t secure the land properly and there was some protest about endangered birds’ habitat being infringed on. Long story short, a lot of the bands were cut and the venue was changed to Giant’s stadium. And I got a refund. And I wasn’t going to get to see Beck. wah. Most of my friends were psyched to see Radiohead, but I wanted Beck and I wasn’t getting him. In the end he like cracked a rib right before show time and didn’t play so it was a good thing I got the refund.

Aaaanyway, so I was super psyched to finally see him. He played tons of song from all the albums, old and new. There were only about 3 all night that I didn’t know. The funny thing.. since I’ve been “buying” digital music for the past 5 years and I sit at work with a drive full of 5,000 songs on random and listen to them, I no longer know song names or what albums their from.. but I recognize the songs immediately. Luckily Andrew is a slow-comer to the digital revolution and was there to tell me the title of each song and which album it was from.

Beck, being Beck, can do just about anything and you’ll just look at the guy you’re standing next to and say “well, he IS Beck!” Example: The awesome lame dancer who was on stage wearing a sweatsuit and sweatbands and dancing like that dorky kid at the school dance. Example: During The Golden Age the whole band, except Beck, sat down at a dinner table on stage and ate dinner.. except this wasn’t any dinner. Soon the only instruments being played were dishes with silverware. .. plates, bowls, glasses of water. It turned from the slow mellow song into an upbeat jam and it was AWESOME.

My favorite song of the night was Mixed Bizness. I was also really impressed with a cover Beck did of the Flaming Lips song Do You Realize. Awesome. Andrew totally called the encore – E-Pro, although it was kind of disappointing that that was the only song in the encore.

One last thing. I was SO happy to see Beck wearing white/tan pants and a dark belt and not black pants with a white belt. I’m SO over that.

See also:
» Beck – Guero
» Satan Gave Me a Taco
» Field Day

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