Have you heard? Elliott Smith is touring again!
I have seen him perform alone only with his acoustic guitar, I have seen him perform with a full band and this time he is back with the best of the best, check it out: Jon Brion on keyboard, Neil Gust of No2 on guitar, Sam Coomes of Quasi on bass (as if it was a Heatmiser reunion!) and on drums, Steven Drozd of the Flaming Lips and Scott McPherson, alternatively probably depending on their other obligations. This tied band is booked for a tour around the US and they will probably announce dates in Europe soon. In LA, they have already played one of the two sold out shows at the Henry Fonda Theater and could have sold even more shows since it was packed yesterday night and I saw many scalpers selling tickets for probably much more than the original price. I don’t know how much, I didn’t ask since I had bought my tickets for the two shows well in advance for the modest price of $30 each,… Elliott has always managed to keep the price of his shows down. There was a long line in front of the theater very early in the day. The Henry Fonda has two levels, a main one downstairs that usually fills up on the first arrived first served rule, and a second level with seats, but apparently everyone wanted to get in the front rows
Elliott Smith has not toured for quite a while, since the ‘From a Basement on the Hill’ tour in 2004-2005. He has done an occasional benefit here and there but no real tour and it was about time. He seemed to really enjoy his comeback, and at one point he said, smiling ‘This is fun, I forgot!’
The full band came on stage around 10 pm after an endless set of a band I had never heard about and whose I did not catch the name. The melodies are intact, the magic too, without the fuck-ups. No real fan has ever cared there were some fuck-ups, aborted songs and other unexpected things of these sorts, Elliott has never been the type to reproduce the songs as perfectly as they sound on the album, you have to leave that to bogus artists who don’t even deserve that denomination. He has always been ready to take risks, taking any kind of requests from fans, even for songs he was not prepared to play, at the peril to not finish them. Eh, messing up is part of it as he said once. This ‘bad habit’ has been the target of many critics, but Mr. no confidence man has really learnt from his past, and since the beginning of this tour there has been no cancelled shows, no aborted songs, and no public breakdown like in 2002 when he opened for Wilco in Chicago. He looked he was in great shape yesterday, enjoying himself, rapidly changing guitar between songs.
If there was some allusion to the past, it happened when he stumbled on something on stage: he laughed and mumbled “That’s me trying to hide my anxiety,… everybody got something to hide” he added, almost singing. Elliott has always been talkative on stage and this time was no exception.
During this tour, be ready for some surprise! When he started ‘A distorted reality is now a necessity to be free’ Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips came on stage to play the song with him. To introduce the song, Elliott simply said ‘It’s something I made up with Wayne.’ The public got out of control, screaming and asking for balloons and dancers! Elliott right away said: ‘What we need is some dancers, … or may be answers, what about answers?’
I have heard he was joined on stage by Rufus Wainwright for ‘Baby Britain’ in New York City, and by Sparklehorse for ‘Independence Day’ in Washington DC.
They sold a lot of merchandise, t-shirts, the usual stuff everybody sell at concerts, and I have heard all the money is going to Elliott’s charity for abused children.
Towards the end of the show, Elliott looked down to check the next song to play and said with a funny voice: ‘The set list is gone,’ it did not seem to bother him too much since he continued right away. Talking about set list, here it is and there are some new songs…
Kings crossing.
Shooting star
A new song
Memory lane
Happiness
Passing feeling
I figured you out
A new song
Another new song
Fond farewell
Strung out again
Can’t make a sound
Twilight
Waterloo sunset (Kinks cover)
Coming up roses
A distorted reality is now a necessity to be free
Pretty ugly before
Long, long, long (George Harrison cover)
No name no 1
Division day
Alameda
Car (Built to Spill cover)
encore
Say Yes
Stickman
Independence Day
Ah independence day! It sounded so beautifully liberating. And yes, he still does that awesome George Harrison cover, Long, long, long. I don’t know why but someone in the crowd shouted at one point: ‘Elliott!! Where are you?!!’ To what he replied, tuning his guitar very seriously: ‘Where am I? Um…I’m right in the middle of something…’