Magnetic Fields @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre

Posted 02/09/10

Firstly I want to confess that I’m late on the Magnetic Fields bandwagon.  I have had good friends rave about them for years and when we released their album Distortion back in January of ‘08, I admit I barely gave it a listen (though I did love the cover art).  Now, almost two years to the day, they have released their follow-up album, Realism, to rave reviews.  After spending the last three weeks connecting interviews with Stephen Merritt, the brilliant mind behind Magnetic Fields, I now had a sense of his character and realized something that most already were aware of-  how witty and dry-humoured he is.

In preparation for the Magnetic Fields show, my friend Sean (old-school MF fan) made me a mixed cd with his favourite songs over the course of their career, so I felt as ready as one could be to appreciate the two-hour performance I was about to see.

From left to right sat Shirley Simms on autoharp, Claudia Gonson on piano, John Woo on guitar, Sam Davol on cello and Merritt on the ukulele.  Due to Merritt’s unfortunate hearing condition, missing was any sign of percussion onstage though.  Seemingly in good spirits and throughout the show,  Merritt and Gonson engaged in some entertaining bantar, Merritt always always on point and deadpan.

They opted to begin the night with one of Merritt’s side projects - a song off of 6th’s album Hyacinths & Thistles.  They then delved into songs from Magnetic Feilds repertoire, playing a mish-mash of both old and new.  Their acoustic renditions of all older songs from their wide catalog sounded breathtaking, especially between the walls of the beautiful Queen Elizabeth Theatre.  To add to all of this, Merritt’s lyrics are stories told with humour and sharp wit – and I found myself both in awe of how beautiful the acoustic arrangements sounded while unexpectedly laughing out loud.

Looking around the audience, there was no doubt the sold-out crowd were nothing short of pleased and Merritt himself, though notorious for his hatred towards touring, you would never have known.

 

Highlight: Performing You Must Be Out of Your Mind.  With cynical lyrics like “If you think you can leave the past behind/ You must  be out of your mind / If you think you can simply press rewind/  You must be out of your mind, son..”  how can you not enjoy yourself?   

 

www.houseoftomorrow.com

 

posted by bianca

0

Name:
Email:
Comment: