Andrew Bird

I went to my very first London show today and was very entertained. My friend Joe and I went to the Shepherds Bush Empire (or the O2 Empire) it was an awesome venue that according to someone was a top venue in a GQ article... but I couldn't find anything, but still good location!These are the best pictures I took of the stage it took a while for me to learn how to work my camera... Anyways on to the show.

The crowd in London is much more laid back then America. Refer to goodafternoonbrad
for a list of American Show rules, specifically the one about personal space, in London you have lots of personal space (at least at chill shows such as Andrew Bird. I mean this could really only apply to Andrew Bird's crowd, but still laid back shows in the States seem to follow the loss of personal space rule.) However, London shows (at least this particular show) I had plenty of room to move about.

Anyways enough about the crowd

Snowbird

This was the opening artist and while she had a lovely voice for the most part it was not amazing. The music consisted of a synthesized beat, some piano, and her voice... which came of sounding very Regina Spektorish. She also wrote a song about the horrors of killing a bug, but then told us a story about squishing a bug, which really made no sense at all. I believe your either for killing bugs or against it. There can really be no in between on this matter. This was best summed up when I asked one of my fellow showgoers what he thought of this and his response was priceless "Shes a fence-sitter one of the worst types of people." Imagine that in a heavy British accent (it was pretty funny.)

Courtney Tidwell

Now this group was alright. They did not sound that great, but definitely a decent band. They kind of reminded me of a less hardcore version of Pretty Girls Make Graves the music was not that complex nor were the lyrics, but all in all not bad.

Andrew Bird

Amazing! a awesome and spectacular show from the start. Andrew Bird can do some pretty sick things on a stringed instrument and its not so much the animation of his show that makes him good. It is how well he plays a violin, guitar, or anything else on stage. His band mates (I am no sure if they are his regular band or just studio musicians for the tour) were also quite impressive in their own rights. Andrew threw them some solos and they easily played some smashing riffs. His music is kind of like a folk meets rock and is best friends with bluegrass. Definitely worth checking out if he tours near you and if not go purchase his new EP or buy his albums, you won;t be disappointed.