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The inside of the theater was rather grand though also dilapidated. The opening band was Slumber Party. I didn't find this out until later because if they ever said their name, I only heard a muted mumble. They played pretty well (well enough for me to want to know what they sound like on an album) although the sound mixing wasn't great and it was tough to discern any lyrics.
Then Belle and Sebastian came on. They opened with the instrumental harmonica piece, Fuck This Shit. (Incidentally, I did not know this until after watching the movie Storytelling, but Fuck This Shit apparently acquired its unusual name from a scene in that movie where a kid fills out the spaces in a standardized test to spell out those words. B&S did the soundtrack for Storytelling.) Stuart did not appear on stage until midway through the song. When he did appear it of course was an occasion for whistles and applause, and then he promptly went down in the audience only to come back in time for Dirty Dream #2 with two girls to dance along and perform the spoken-word portion of the song. He was wearing a Cubs jersey, which he soon removed in favor of a plain black shirt, and when the song was over he sent the girls away with Cubs caps.
Just about every song was amazing - no songs I could have done without hearing. This was one of the first shows after Isobel had gone back home; no one knew yet that she was quitting. It may be mean but I can't say I was terribly disappointed to see her missing - whenever I hear her sing I think to myself - *I* can sing better than that, why can't I be in the band? And then I get all sad.
I wasn't disappointed to see Stevie sharing some of the singing duties, however. I think he has improved as a singer since the release of The Boy With the Arab Strap. He sang wonderfully on Jonathan David and The Wrong Girl.
One of my favorite songs of the evening was actually Jonathan and David. (Dirty Dream #2 is my favorite on the albums but the live version doesn't sounds as majestic.) Their antics on stage were quite funny and the swirling red and white lights added to the experience. Stuart is pretty dorky-looking when he dances, Stevie is a little better - but it really doesn't matter, does it? It just makes them seem more like regular people rather than unapproachable rock stars. At one point Stuart and Stevie had their arms around each other's shoulders and were looking in each other's eyes until it came time to sing one of the parts where it says "It's not like we'll never know love", at which point Stuart abruptly caught himself and released Stevie and gazed over at Sarah. Apparently he didn't want to look gay, which, I know, he's not, but people often speculate that he might be. I thought it was amusing.
I was standing way back in the theater because I didn't feel like getting smooshed in the crowd up front. The people in front were singing along but I seemed to be the only one in my section besides the sound man who couldn't resist the urge to burst into song. It's good that they have their own sound guy who knows their songs - this must be a large part of the reason why the sound quality was so much better than the opening band.
Partway through the show Stuart said they were going to do a song they had never done live before and probably would never do again. Then the commenced playing Judy is a Dickslap - another instrumental song, for those who don't know. It was excellent. Afterwards Stuart called up a young man named Colin from the audience. It wasn't clear at first what was going on but then Colin said he had a question for a girl in the audience, and he proceded to ask her to marry him. She came up to the stage and Stuart announced, "She said yes" to much cheering. Then they played Judy and the Dream of Horses to the newly engaged couple. This was followed by The Boy With the Arab Strap, which they played right through to the end part which you can barely hear on the album, and then they immediately sprang into a somewhat surprising choice, You Made Me Forget My Dreams (minus the odd ending).
A little later on they sang a bit of the song If You Leave me Now, by Chicago. It wasn't a serious attempt at singing it, however - they were just being silly. They said that they always play some Chicago while in Chicago and some Boston while in Boston. Right after that, they sang The Wrong Girl, which I had been looking forward to. I think it actually may sound better ilve. Stevie substituted the last chorus of "I went looking and I found her" for "If you leave me now, you take away the biggest part of me". This was probably the only part of the evening that annoyed me a little, as it broke up the flow of the song. Finally they closed with There's Too Much Love, Legal Man, and then The Boys Are Back in Town by Thin Lizzy. There was no encore, which is apparently typical of the band.
Overall it was a great night and I'm glad I saw them when I did because I hear that
their stage presence has improved immeasurably since their earliest tours.
Setlist
marriage proposal
If You Leave Me Now
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