Oh what a lovely sound

I have discovered the perfect venue at which to see Andrew Bird. It's not Cafe Montmartre, it's not Union Park or Summerfest. It is, as it turns out, the Orpheum Stage Door.

Saturday night Andrew Bird played a solo show there, a benefit for the Chicago Short Film Brigade. This meant that instead of an opening band, we were treated to nine short films. Well, we only saw seven and a half, since someone tripped over the projector cord in the balcony midway through a seriously awesome film of a guy singing "Livin' on a Prayer". But the films were all entertaining - I especially enjoyed Bean Cake, Profiles in Science, and Wednesday. I really need to attend one of their quarterly screenings.

After a few minutes of the film people fruitlessly trying to fix the projector, Andrew took the stage. The crowd was mostly silent during songs - leaving the sounds of his violin and guitar and voice to fill the 350-seat theater.

This was my fourth time seeing Andrew, and easily my favorite. It was also the first time in awhile I'd seen him play completely solo, without a percussionist on hand. This time it was his red-striped-socked left foot providing percussion when necessary. Perhaps because he was alone onstage, he also talked more than I recall from previous occasions.

We heard about (capital) "I" becoming "I Mitosis", and how Sesame Street's reluctance to be included in the song was a blessing in disguise because the chorus makes more sense now. Before playing a new song, Andrew mentioned that although it'll be next year before the new album is released, Fingerlings 3 is out now. "It has live versions of songs, and some songs that didn't make it onto the new album. Well, this song is on both of them. But this is a live version." In reference to a song he wrote at age 23, he said that it's now been long enough that he can listen to Bowl of Fire songs without cringing. "Now it's just like, 'What the hell was I thinking?'"

Whatever he was thinking, I'm glad he thought it. "Why?" was superb and intense, Andrew pointing accusingly at the audience with his violin bow. One of my favorite songs of the night was a lovely cover of Bob Dylan's "Oh, Sister". The main set ended with a beautiful but nearly unrecognizable "Lull", followed by a two-song encore. Seeing people outside before the show begging for tickets suggests to me that Andrew will probably stick to larger venues around here than the Stage Door in the future - which makes me all the happier that I saw him this time.