john vanderslice (w/ the magik*magik orchestra) @ the great american, review, photos
John Vanderslice & the Magik*Magik Orchestra
“This shit’s going to get pro real soon.” John Vanderslice (myspace) was promising to not repeat a song-stopping mistake during his second song. It did. But more on that in a bit.
When I arrived Friday evening, the line for John Vanderslice, appearing with the Magik*Magik Orchestra, stretched down the block from the Great American almost to the entrance of MItchell Brothers. With only a DJ set (by Aesop Rock) before the headlining set, people were arriving early, not doubt wanting to make sure they caught the whole set.
Inside, the crowd was ripe with local musicians: Meric from the Dodos, Adam from Two Gallants, Mike from Geographer and Dave Douglas (JV’s old drummer) among them.
The John Vanderslice trio (with Ian Bjornstad, keyboards, and Matthias Bossi, drums) entered the stage first. During the second song, he played something wrong and that’s where he promised things were going to get pro. After they successfully completed that song, the Magik*Magik Orchestra entered and entered.
Ian Bjornstad on keys
And this isn’t one of those cutely named orchestras that is actually not close to the size of an orchestra at all. We’re talking (approximately) six violins, four violas, four cellos, two upright basses, four singers, flute, piccolo, french horn and trumpet, in addition to Vanderslice, Bjornstad, and Bossi. This was a legitimate orchestra.
For a song or two, I have to admit, I was unconvinced of the orchestra’s added benefits. Then they launched into Cellar Door’s “Promising Actress”, which is a recording I love but not the song (at its core)–I didn’t think I’d like it without that particular orchestration (with the handbells, etc.). The orchestration and performance that was presented, though, was amazing.
And that’s sort of how the night went: my favorite songs were great and songs that weren’t were still pretty gorgeous. That’s not to say that there weren’t missteps. I didn’t like all the orchestrations, for instance.
There were two things that detracted from the show a bit. The mix was not the best–it was unbalanced and hard to hear all the instruments. The listener heard a lot of trumpet and guitar, for instance, but not a lot of flute. The second distraction was the audience: this was one of the chattiest audiences at the Great American I can remember. Given that it was also one of the shows that most required quiet, this was pretty unfortunate.
After the set, Aesop Rock DJed the “dance party” (including some sweet tunes like Soul Finger). JV tries to do this after every show of his but this is the first time I actually saw anyone dancing–albeit only a few people.
