CONCERT: Andrew Bird + Loney Dear

Andrew Bird played Wednesday night at In The Venue in Salt Lake City, along with Sweden's Loney Dear (formerly "Loney, Dear" - they've recently dropped the punctuation), and now I'm sitting here wondering what in the world I could write to do it justice. I already expressed my feelings for Bird's new record, and I think a lot of those same feelings of awe are very apt for his live show. Between the tape-looped whistling and violining, Martin Dosh's genius percussion, and Bird's own amazing ability to just put on a fantastic show, I just can't express how great it was. Unfortunately, I'm a loser and forgot to charge my camera battery, so I have no pics for you. Lame, I know.

The setlist is below, along with a video of Mr. Bird playing on Letterman a few weeks back. But now I'd like to take a second and just say "Holy crap!" about the opening act, Loney Dear's performance. Fronted by Emil Svanängen, these guys completely floored me. I know how hard it is to make beautiful and intimate music on a stage in a room full of strangers, and the fact that these guys did it so well makes it clear that they've got something special going. I promise I'll be writing more about them later. In the meantime, check out a track from their 2007 release, Loney, Noir (below).

Here's Andrew Bird's setlist:

Instrumental intro / Masterswarm / Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left / Tenuousness / Natural Disaster / Effigy / Oh No / Plasticities / Nomenclature / Not A Robot, But A Ghost / Armchairs / Anonanimal / Fake Palindromes / Imitosis / Headsoak / Tables and Chairs

Encore: Why? / Fitz and Dizzyspells

Loney Dear - I Am John
from the album Loney, Noir (Amazon/iTunes)