When I went to see the Eels at the Henry Fonda theater/music box or whatever they call it these days, I said to Iman I had seen Elliott Smith performed at this same place in 2003, and as expected, he immediately asked me to write about it. Writing about a concert that happened 7 years ago is not easy, not only because memory fades away, but also because, in this case, it will never happen again, and it’s always painful to remember someone who disappeared in such violent and unexpected circumstances, whatever people think about it, as it is always difficult to think about your own mortality.
Elliott had done only a few concerts since his recovery after his 2002 treatment at the Neurotransmitter Restoration Center, and the last ones had been promising, he had new material, was working on the recording of his new album, and was definitively on an ascending phase. He was not playing with a full band yet as he was doing it in the last months of his life, but was just playing with his acoustic guitar, accompanied by Robin Peringer on drums for some songs. I saw him both ways, and the experience was different of course but interesting in any case. Acoustically, his voice, his finger picking style and his texts were the stars, whereas, backed up by a full band, his music was shining in a more fulfilling way.
Elliott played two nights at The Henry Fonda, January 31st and February 1st 2003, and I attended the two nights, something I thought was a little bit too revealing of my fan obsession,… but why not? After all, there will never be another Elliott Smith concert. And it was so cheap, $15, the highest amount I had ever paid to see him, as Elliott was never charging much for his shows.
Elliott sat the whole time on a chair on stage and since the Henry Fonda is a general admission place (with a balcony), people in the back were complaining because their view was not the best. ‘I don’t want to stand up’ said Elliott to the crowd, ‘You want me to stand up like the British invasion? That would be fine but I don’t have a strap!’ People stopped complaining after that, well sort of.
He started both shows with an acoustic and dramatic version of ‘King’s crossing’, probably the darkest of all his new songs, and once the line ‘I’m going on a date with a rich white lady/Ain’t life great?/Give me one good reason not to do it’ came up, people got the surprise to hear female voices coming from backstage screaming ‘Because I love you’. They did it for both shows and the voices were of course those of Elliott’s girlfriend and half sister.
During these two nights, Elliott performed many other songs that figure now on his posthumous album ‘From a Basement on the Hill’, such as ‘Memory Lane’, ‘A passing feeling’, ‘Fond farewell’, ‘Strung out again’, ‘Twilight’, ‘Pretty (ugly before)’, and a particularly strong and powerful rendition of ‘A distorted reality is now a necessity to be free’.
During ‘Pretty (ugly before)’, he called some people on stage to do the back-up voices, and among them were his girlfriend J. Chiba, Ashley, his sister and Blake Sennett from Rilo Kiley, the opening band of the show.
After a few songs, people started screaming at him the title of the songs they wanted him to play, as if the whole thing was improvised without any premeditated setlist. Elliott kept saying ‘I’ll play this one later’ while pursuing his idea of playing as many new songs as possible, but people kept screaming irreverently titles at him during the whole show as if it was their last chance to hear them live,… well, may be.
He also played many old favorite ones, the melancholic ‘Happiness’ so loved by the audience, or even better, ‘Coming up Roses’, or ‘Christian Brothers’ then joined on stage by Robin Peringer on drums, who gave even more impact to the songs. Each night, ‘Say yes’ was the crowd pleaser, whereas ‘Angeles’ and ‘Between the bars’ were some of the many highlights of the second night, since, after all, everyone has his or her favorite one.
Elliott was quite talkative both nights, but strangely he was speaking so softly, most of the people could not understand what he was saying. I am still wondering whether it was on purpose, speaking only for himself the whole time.
The first night he was wearing a grey tee-shirt with ‘I heart Metal’ written on it, which triggered some reaction among people: ‘Yeah, I love metal!’,… ‘Me too, it broke my heart’, answered Elliott. Opportunistically, the same shirt was sold all over Silver Lake after his death.
At one point, he started playing ‘I figured you out’ after a shouted request. Elliott had declared in several interviews he did not like the song, since it was ‘a stupid pop song written in about a minute’, which sounded ‘too much like the fucking Eagles’. As expected, he never finished it.
The first night he did a moving cover of George Harrison’s ‘Long, long, long’, and the second night an unexpected cover of Oasis’ ‘Supersonic’ introducing the song by saying it would probably piss some people off. I’m not that sure it did as people were cheering, but Elliott, surprised to have finished the tune safely, was still following his thought, saying he expected some ‘booos’ during the song, joking by adding ‘Some people don’t like Oasis!’
This second night was full of surprises as he dug in Heatmiser’s catalog to play ‘Antonio Carlos Jobim’, and played ‘Miss Misery’, a song he had said in the past not ever wanted to play live again.
He forgot some words or chords on ‘Alameda’ but he finished the song nevertheless, re-building the tune as if nothing had happened. People really wanted him to play ‘Pitseleh’, and he accepted to play it despite the fact he said it was ‘rather long and boring’. He jokingly stopped after the first verse and said ‘I blocked it out’ then continued the long and boring tune in a playful way.
This same night, he also debuted a brand new song, ‘Stickman’, which was probably supposed to be on his last album but never made it, and also ‘Brand new game’, another unreleased track.
Some of his last words during the second show were ‘Some of these songs are dark, but I’m healthy and fine’, and he seemed very fine indeed, even more comfortable on stage than the night before.
Setlist: 01.31.03 – Henry Fonda theatre
King’s crossing
Memory lane
Happiness
No confidence man
A passing feeling
I figured you out/I better be quiet now
Fond farewell
Strung out again
Twilight
Coming up roses
A distorted reality is now a necessity to be free
Pretty (ugly before)
Plainclothes man
Long, long, long
No name #1
Division day
I don’t think I’m ever gonna figure it out
I better be quiet now
Say yes
Brand new game
Shooting star
Setlist: 02.01.03 – Henry Fonda theatre
King’s crossing
Fond farewell
Say yes
Strung out again
Stickman
Memory lane
Alameda
Pitseleh
Christian brothers
A distorted reality is now a necessity to be free
Supersonic
Independence day
The enemy is you
Angeles
Between the bars
Antonio Carlos Jobim
Coming up roses
St. Ides heaven
Miss misery
Division day
Not half right