"I think they're still looking for the treasure in Manchester..."
Belle and Sebastian, the fan-friendly Brit Award-winning not-so-
superstars are in Edinburgh, playing the last of their three Easter
gigs. The venue is the suitably eccentric Usher Hall, a classical
amphitheatre with two tiers of raked seating above the standing
area, and acoustics to put most venues to shame. The above
quote concerns the treasure hunt the band have organised on the
day of each gig, which luckily today was completed before the
evening's entertainment.
Speaking of which, isn't it nice when a band exceeds your
expectations? Those who have seen Belle and Sebastian in the
past may recall shambolic, poorly amplified sets from a band who
would rather not have been there. Not so tonight, as up to thirteen
players shimmy through twenty songs including a cover of Van
Morrison's Brown-Eyed Girl, as requested by two nearlyweds.
And they're swopping instruments too, with at least three bassists
and five guitar players, in a set naturally biased towards more
recent tunes.
Todd Solondz's misanthropic movie Storytelling is the source of
Belle and Sebastian's next release - they've done the soundtrack
- and 'Wandering Alone' is a Spanish tinged excerpt, the audience
providing enthusiastic handclaps when required. Recent singles
I'm Waking Up to Us and Legal Man are also give an airing, with
Stuart Murdoch frolicking around the stage like it's his front room.
And it may as well be as he confesses that, "most of the audience
is probably made up of members of our families".
Whilst that's something of an exaggeration, it's probably why Belle
and Sebastian don't stand astride the music industry like the
colossuses they are. They're only interested in making music for
people they like, and are quite happy to let the rest of the world go
whistle. Now they've lived up to their recorded selves on the live
stage, maybe it'll be easier to bring people round to their charming
way of thinking, and claw a little of the music industry back for the
artists and the fans. One thing's for sure: the only treasure worth
having was on stage tonight.
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