The best things in life aren't free. Sometimes they cost 26.50. At least that's how much the brilliant Brooklyn-based Dirty Projectors set me back this past Friday night. A meager amount of dosh for the night of weird and wonderful music they doled out in return.
As I only decided to go at the last minute, I didn't have much time to research the show. All I knew was that it was at the Barbican, which gave me a great excuse to visit London's central performance arts venue - an impressive exhibition hall that would inspire Mr. G of Summer Heights High fame to perform a one-man show called 'Envy'.
Due to the short notice, I took in the show on my own, which meant a few wee drams were in order. Thankfully, the Barbican provided a decent selection of scotch, including Glenmorangie and Laphroaig, both of which I took it upon myself to sample during the show.
Settling into my glorified cubby hole of a seat, the show kicked off with a one-hour performance of the 2005 rock opera, The Getty Address. To add effect, the Dirty Projectors came out in Little Red Riding Hood costumes. Thankfully, the theatrics stopped there. Backed by the progressive orchestra of Alarm Will Sound, the rock opera was surprisingly grabbing. Here's a quick taste.
Perhaps it was the aforementioned glasses of scotch, but I was hooked from the first verse. I couldn't have been more surprised as I had read the pamphlet containing the story of the opera while waiting for the show to start and two words came to mind: pretentious crap. Funny how even the most nonsensical lyrics make perfect sense when surrounded by incredible music - just look at Miike Snow's lyric sheet ("A horse is not a home"?).
After a prolonged standing ovation for The Getty Address - to which the lead singer responded "Don't worry. We'll be back after the intermission. We promise." - and another plastic cup of fine scotch, the Dirty Projectors performed some of the best tracks from their critically acclaimed 2009 album, Bitte Orca.
Named as the best album of the year by more than one reasonably reputable mag, Bitte Orca is a creeper that definitely takes more than a few listens to appreciate. Now, a few months in, I still feel like I'm discovering this album. Bitte Orca is definitely one of those albums that requires solid work from the listener. But the reward is well worth it. And it was all the more rewarding to hear the Dirty Projectors perform it live.
The second half of the concert started off with a pared down version of Two Doves, which was the song I was most looking forward to hearing. That out of the way, things only got better. Working through an hour of Bitte Orca's best material including a rendition of Stillness is the Move that had a female fan in the seat next to me literally leaping out of it, the band took the show to another level and really showed their musical prowess. Here's the album version of Two Doves.
From the incredible harmonies of the three female singers to the Jeff Buckley-like range of lead singer Dave Longstreth to the power and precision of the drummer, this is a band that is so accomplished musically that they didn't just recreate their technically perfect studio album but they improved on it. Rarely does a band live up to their album when playing live. And almost never do they go beyond their album. The Dirty Projectors did just that. Best 26.50 I ever spent.
Here's the video for Stillness is the Move to close things out.
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