A puppet-less Mr. Hansen and band treated the Lower East Side's best cathedral-inspired-synagogue concert hall to twenty-four songs last night, over an hour-and-a-half full of humor, a little broken-hearted folk, and some light-hearted fun. Beck was quick to announce that there was little by way of game plan for the evening, aside from a piece of paper with song titles on it, and his banter was proof. After sweeping his eyes across the stage set up (with a five-man backing band and plenty of acoustic guitars and percussion), he threatened a Tesla cover before noting that "their hit was a cover" and backed off of playing some Extreme because "we'd need stools for that."
The set veered toward the pensive Sea Change material, which wasn't a surprise given the sacrosanct surroundings. It wasn't the electro-goofball Beck the MSG crowd had a few nights before, but he still managed some fun by way of awesome Casio beats, as on "Movie Theme" and "Where It's At" (which included a pause to figure the best Casio tone for the keyboard riff; the crowd favored "Bassoon" to "Jazz Guitar," and Beck settled for the part being played an octave too low 'cause "that's the problem with Casios; no more octaves.").
The show also had Beck's now familiar "dinner table," with the band of two Matts, a Brian, a Ryan, and a Justin making like Stomp by chiming bells and water glasses, all while giving great backing vox to "Golden Age" and "Clap Hands." Yup, the $55 price tag was steep, but it was the first time he'd played that "far south in Mahattan since the ABC No Rio days," and surprise opener Death Vessel helped to make it memorable. So which version of Hansen do you prefer: funky-hit playing Beck or low-key, acoustic Beck? We're always down for a big "show," but having just seen the big puppet show at 'Roo and Øya, last night's mellow gold suited us just fine.
SETLIST
01. "Black Tambourine"
02. "Scarecrow"
03. "No Complaints"
04. "Lost Cause"
05. "End Of The Day"
06. "Movie Theme"
07. "We Dance Alone"
08. "Think I'm In Love"
09. "Winter's Blue"
10. "Rowboat"
11. "Guess I'm Doing Fine"
12. "No Expectations"
13. "Cellphone's Dead"
14. "Strange Apparition"
15. "Cold Brains"
16. "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime"
17. "Sissyneck"
18. "Where It's At"
19. "Shadows On The Wall"
20. "Golden Age"
21. "Clap Hands"
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22. "You're Running Wild"
23. "Girl"
24. "Nausea"
