Green Tee Readings

It’s about time I stop slacking off and start writing about something that really matters, The Magnetic Fields. The show I went to with Ryan on Sunday (sorry Lisa), ranks easily as the third best show I’ve seen, and is only third because I can’t fairly have them as the top two and leave the Radiohead show that prominently featured 5,000 people singing the lyrics back to the stage as third place. I just can’t. And this last show is less exalted than the first for two reasons a) I’ve seen them before and b) no opening act meant nobody to floor me before I expected to be floored.

On stage for this show were, from left to right, Shirley Simms (vocals), Claudia Gonson (vocals, piano) John Woo (guitar), Sam Davol (cello) and Stephin Merritt (vocals, ukulele). Shirley wasn’t with them for the previous show I saw, and it was really nice to hear her songs; her voice is the same on record and live. Merritt riveted my attention the first time I saw them, the depth and power of his voice is pretty incongruous to his body size, but this time I was able to split my attention well. Maybe this is too many hours of Guitar Hero at work, but I was fascinated with the sounds coming from Woo’s guitar, nothing flashy, with at most 3 effects pedals on stage, but he coaxed out some really neat stuff, including some wonderfully played and very casual slide part.

They play with such clear sounds, letting the textures of their voices and songs carry all the emotional weight. They don’t need to be loud or fast or have gadgets to create such wonder with sound. In concert their plainness draws you in and allows you, maybe forces you to move through the song, seeing the depth and humor and wit and irony and sadness and love, love under everything as the basis for being human and alive.

Their set list was wonderfully diverse, hitting elements from every Merritt led endeavor and reminding me how fantastic the not-quite-favorites are. Just before the encore, I heard an older gentleman next to me say that he was disappointed in the song selection, a statement that I still can’t wrap my head around almost two full days later. Maybe he only likes “Punk Love,” “Fido Your Leash is too Long” and “Roses.” I’ve never been able to get into Showtunes, and I was prepared to cringe when they announced they’d play “What A Fucking Lovely Day,” but with Merritt replacing some far less talented actor on vocals, the song shines, it’s absurdity on full display. “No River” from the Future Bible Heroes Eternal Youthmight be one of his less inspired lyrical efforts, and I think it’s a bit too long, but they did a good job with it. “The Nun’s Litany” from the recently released Distortion was far more funny and charming than the novelty role I’d cast it into, and the three part vocal opening for “Too Drunk to Dream” almost made me clap my hands in delight. I’m glad I wasn’t drunk and had full control of my inhibitions. My only complaint about the show was that it was too short, I could easily listen to them play songs for hours and hours and hours (and if you’ve been watching my last.fm feed, that’s just what I’ve been doing after the show). Stephin Merritt, I love it when you sing (sort of) to me, and you really can sing me anything.

I simply can’t do justice to how beautiful their rendition of “Papa was a Rodeo” was with a subdued piano and just tiny, tiny hints of guitar work, like little flashes of joy amid sadness. And such sadness in Merritt’s voice, such loneliness that gets redeemed when Simms joins him at the very end and they soar as high and far as they can under the weight of the song’s story.

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