it's a celebration, bitches!

I always think that I won't have much to say after shows where I'm not too familiar with the artist. But somehow I manage to think of something to say (and probably too much) every time... :)

Tonight we saw Alexi Murdoch at the Fox Theatre. However, first I must mention the opening band, Midnight Movies, because I really dug them. Actually, although I entered the theatre just at the end of their set, there was another opener (nobody I know knows their name). Leah described them as "playing the same song for ten minutes with no vocals and they were all wearing scary masks". No loss, then.

Midnight Movies seemed far too rockin' to be opening an Alexi Murdoch show, but no complaints here. Perhaps they were meant to wake the crowd up before Alexi's mellow tunes. Anyway, they were quite fun, two girls (singer/keyboards & drummer) and 2 guys (bass & guitar). The girls switched for a few songs and the singer drummed and the drummer played keys (she also played bass for at least one song). I don't really know why drums should be different from any other instrument, but I've always been impressed with people who can sing and drum at the same time. Multi-instrumentalists win me over quite handily too (as long as they are good at said instruments). These guys and gals were great. I checked out their MySpace page, and I have to say that the songs they have posted are OK, but much much better live. Which we all know is how it should be, but they are definitely worth checking out.

So, on to Alexi's set... Leah was right to recommend ingesting large amounts of caffeine before the show... lol. I think the only song of his that I was familiar with before the show was Orange Sky, which I believe is on one of the OC soundtracks. I'm just too damn lazy to look it up right now... But I knew to expect a really low-key, folksy show. He certainly didn't disappoint in that regard. The first few songs were just Alexi and his guitarist (whose name I can't fucking remember, even though Alexi mentioned him at least 4-5 times...). Shortly into the set they were joined by 3/4 of Midnight Movies - the women and the bass player. Much to my disbelief, even the addition of a bass, a drummer and another voice weren't enough to kick the energy level up a notch. So although the music and the songs were beautiful, I felt my sleepy eyes glazing over just a bit as I kind of drifted off into the mellow-ness.

Thankfully, though, about 45 minutes into the set, the band finally rocked out on a song. It didn't last long, but it was fantastic... :) They did a couple more rockers toward the end of the set, but for the most part it was definitely a very mellow show (and I need a synonym for mellow right about now). I did really enjoy the show, and Alexi broke up the tranquility (thanks Becky!) with some (as a fellow concert-goer put it) witty banter. And he certainly is a funny guy:

He mentioned that they've been watching a lot of Dave Chappelle, and Alexi compared himself and his guitarist to Rick James & Charlie Murphy (it's a celebration bitches!). Then he picked up the electric guitar, made a grand start to the next song, and realized guitar was not plugged in. Or turned on. Whatever. He suggested "rewinding" then wondered how to say "it's a celebration bitches!" backward... then he attempted it... lol.

He explained that he doesn't do the "setlist" thing, because then he would know what's happening next. Which is "bollocks" (god I wish I were European), because then he might as well play the cd. Of course, this sometimes leads to gaps between songs while Alexi is thinking... but it just gives him a chance to entertain us with his witty banter.

This is not so much funny, but worth mentioning, because we decided Alexi is getting some bad information from somewhere... History - he was supposed to play the Walnut Room (capacity 200) in Denver last year. I'd pondered going, but crapped out for some reason or another - which was OK as Alexi cancelled the show because he heard he hadn't sold too many tickets (I think that's what happened - Leah?). The Fox Theatre holds 700, and while the show wasn't sold out, there was quite a good turnout. Alexi told us that he thought only about 50 people would come out to the show... I'm so glad we did better than 50 people...

The last song of the encore was a sing-along. Although it mentioned god a lot, Alexi swore it was not a religious song, and that he is not a religious man. "All it is, is a bunch of people singing together, and what's more religious than that?" Amen.

All in all, I would definitely see Alexi again. Which is great because he intimated that he will be back in a few months. I love that he seemed genuinely happy to be playing for us. I lost count of how often he said what a great time he was having, what a great crowd we were, and how the altitude was making him loopy... :)

Oh, and I didn't even smell pot smoke, not even once. and it was Boulder...

Now playing (I had planned to be asleep by now, but my sister Becky - who works the overnight shift at a hospital in lovely Fort Collins - decided to google chat me, which is very distracting):

was this:

now this:

Yup, I've been on an Andrew Bird kick this week. Only 63 days 'til I get to see him...