A shy Mr. `Misery' delights Chicago crowd
CHRISTOPHER McGOVERN
Scene Music Critic
Elliott Smith's music has always been a study in contradictions. His songs are beautiful and emotional, yet the lyrics are stark and depressing. Even his happier songs usually have a sad twist to them. This trend of contradiction remained apparent throughout his performance at Chicago's Empty Bottle on Saturday, February 26.
A shy, reserved Smith took the stage around 11:00 and went straight into two new songs, "Son of Sam" and "Happiness." Though he appeared somewhat nervous — an early miscue on "Happiness" seemed to make him somewhat embarrassed — he settled into a comfortable groove around the third or fourth tune.
Despite his somewhat ill at ease manner, Smith, who earned national acclaim for his contributions to the "Good Will Hunting" soundtrack, managed to maintain a commanding stage presence. For the most part, the audience stood motionless, as if they didn't want to miss a single note or word from their modern-day Dylan. The only damper on the evening, was the young lady in the front row who pantomimed everything from being a butterfly to taking heroin.
After the early mishap, Smith's guitar work was nothing short of brilliant, especially on two numbers from XO, "Waltz #2" and "Independence Day." This was a welcome surprise, given that Smith is primarily known for his amazing voice and songwriting abilities. He even seemed comfortable with most of the new material, which will show up on his forthcoming Figure 8 release in April. Two songs to especially look forward to are "LA" and "Pretty Mary K," both of which are reminiscent of his earlier work on the Kill Rock Stars label.
Other highlights from the evening included "Say Yes," "Ballad of Big Nothing" and "St. Ides Heaven." On "Ides," he called up an old friend from the audience to help him out who, surprisingly, did a nice job. Her performance showed that most of the concert-goers were music professionals, much like Smith, rather than the casual fan.
Near the end of the night, Smith played a Big Star cover, which has become almost customary at his shows. With most of the crowd suggesting "Thirteen," he went with "Night Time," a rather desperate song on a night in which Smith seemed to be anything but. His soothing voice and heartfelt lyrics have made him a college girl mix-tape staple, and his performance showed why. Look for his new album on April 18, as well as the new Division Day EP released last week.
The opening act, Chicago natives Okay Go!, pleased the crowd with their lyrical, poppy songs and colorful stage antics. This extremely witty band kicked off their set with the mid-80's hit "Don't Get Me Wrong," prompting the lead singer to proclaim them as a Pretenders cover band.
They then proceeded to rip through a set of their own eclectic originals, ranging from punk-pop to Weezer-like power chord ballads, all while the keyboardist did his best to bring the Kraftwerk robots to life.
To end their set, they did something unprecedented in the annals of rock- they covered the headlining act. They played a blistering version of Smith's own "Clementime," providing a nice contrast to the acoustic set he was about to play. Okay Go! is an enjoyable live act, and being that they play regularly in the Chicago area, would be worth the trip alone to see.
All Scene Stories for Tuesday, March 7, 2000
