St. Vincent / Gentleman Reg
The Horseshoe. Saturday, August 8, 2009.
Rolled into the 'Shoe not long before 10:30 to find a pretty full house already there. Just had enough time to compose myself before Gentleman Reg and band took the stage. The band were in similar terrain to their Pride gig — even including Reg's sleeveless tunic of choice, which, when combined with beard and hair, keeps making me think of Chuck Heston as Moses. There was a chance to dig a bit deeper into Jet Black, opening with a strong performance of "Falling Back" and "To Some It Comes Easy". We also again got the cover of "Wild Heart", and the set-ending one-two punch of "We're in a Thunderstorm" and "The Boyfriend Song". Nice sound, too, with Kelly McMichael's keyboards a bit more prominent in the mix,1 and all instruments coming through nicely. Saying that this band keeps getting better risks tripping into hyperbole, but still... this band is working at a high enough level that these live versions are easily rendering the album superfluous. A top-notch forty-five minutes.2
Listen to a track from this set here.
Soon things were getting even more crammed in. The mixed crowd was a little older than the last time I was here, a bit less drunk and chatty. Part of me had been wondering how much of the audience would be music-nerd boys staggering in, attracted by the siren semaphore of the lamplights of Annie Clark's eyes.3 I ended up standing at the back of the dance floor4 with a lousy view, stuck behind a clump of Tall Dudes, but sonically it was okay. Given that it was a fairly loud show, not getting closer might have been a blessing in disguise. Interestingly, despite the volume, this wasn't the blistering, full-on rock attack that I'd heard Annie Clark's live show described as. It generally hewed fairly close to the fancy arrangements found on disc,5 a good demonstration of mildly complicated pop.
Backed by a four-piece band with bass, drums, and some switching around on keyb, violin and woodwinds, the layers of production were also reproduced by Annie's pair of microphones — one straight-up, one effects-laden. The setlist mostly revolved around the recent Actor album, with just a couple cuts (the introductory "Marry Me", "Now, Now", and the encore-closing "Your Lips Are Red") representing the debut. On the whole, a pretty good show, pulling off the tricky task of replicating a carefully layered pop sound but keeping the music vital and in the moment.
Listen to a track from this set here.
1 Ms. McMichael also seems to be gaining confidence on the mic, as well, turning in a strong accompaniment on "Rewind".
2 My only (mild) complaint is that the righteous focus on the Jet Black songs is leaving me hurting for some of Reg's other worthy compositions — is there any chance of getting "Give Me the Chance to Fall" back in the setlist?
3 Adding to her crushability — if you go for that kind of thing — was the fact that our rocker also tended to banter like a bright heroine from a vintage screwball comedy, speaking in fleshed out paragraphs sounding more like literature than conversation: "I'm very happy to be back here. it's been a little — it's been a hot minute since we were here. But it's delightful as always — I daresay even more delightful than the last time."
Imaginary Rock Nerd #1: She said "daresay"!
Imaginary Rock Nerd #2: I sigh.
4 Literally and painfully so, as I was stuck, for a spell, right on the metal strip that separates the dancefloor from the carpet — not comfy to stand on.
5 Although there were some guitar-y moments, notably including a ripping solo take on "I Dig a Pony".
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