belle & sebastian – part 1
Originally written 04.01.2002.
After buying my train ticket to London and sorting through tax hell at the Internet cafe, I realized that I needed to get to the venue as well as procure some film. After running around looking for a shop that carried film for a while (Princes St. goes dead after 6), I eventually found a newsagent that carried film. My camera hassles weren’t over then, however. I got into the venue w/ my camera unaccosted, but as I was exiting the toilet, a security guy stopped me and informed me that cameras weren’t allowed in the concert hall and that I would have to check my camera somewhere. After being handed off to a half-dozen security personel, it was eventutlly decided that 35mm cameras were ok. After some deliberation as to whether or not my camera.
The show’s venue was Edinburgh’s Usher hall, a concert hall that usually plays host to middle aged rockers comeback tour. Under the large rotunda, there are 2 balconies of seats and then the floor. The place reminded me of Philly’s Troc., both in size and decore, but w/o the dank.
I arrived at the venue just after doors oppened, and already kids were pouring in. Apparently the “rules of rock” don’t apply in Scotland. There are tons of kids w/ B&S t-shirts displayed proudly. Good for them, I always thought that rules like that were daft anyway. The air was light and jovial. Friends roughhoused while couples sat cross-leggen on the floor, exchanging the occasional romantic glance or comment, a few rows back.
There were 2 opening bands, and I was going to write about them, but their performance was so overshadowed by the headliners that it hardly seems neccessary to mention them. Belle&Sebastian were just that good.
Belle&Sebastian, until recently, were always a band that I avoided because I perceived them as being awash in indie rock pretense, their name utterred only by pale, emaciated boys in the back of record stores. It wasn’t until I actually listened to the pile of Belle&Sebastian albums of my flatmates that I realized that the band makes some of the most accessible and enjoyable music that I have ever heard. Their performance provided more than ample further evidence of this fact.
A phrase that is often used to describe the band is “chamber pop”. Despite my love of multi-word genre classifications, I’d like to focus on just the “pop”. Yes, Belle&Sebastian have strings, and pianos, but to me, it is theih overwhelming popiness that is the essence of the band. While the performance of the band Rachel’s, another group that often gets the chamber adjective is moody and intimate, Belle&Sebastian are engaging and, well, big.
The label “pop” often seems to imply a lack of musical ability. This was certainly not the case with Belle&Sebastian. As I was watching the road crew, I realized why the band was playing a proper concert hall instead of an arena-like venue. The stage was massive. There was a
baby grand piano, organ, and synthesizer, a cello, 4 violins, a drum kit, and an assortment of guitars. Through the course of the set, the ensamble of 12 or 13 musicians (I lost count) were constantly switching between instruments and introducing new ones like flute, recorder, and a plethora of percussion implements. Not only is the effect of this constant switching impressive, but it’s fully entertaining. More than that, the audience is caught up in the musicians’ utter love of music. The band was smiling and cracking jokes with each other between songs and th
s was contageous. Most of the audience had these stupid grins on their faces through the entirity of the show. The musicians seemed like what high school band geeks would be if they were engaged in constant creative bliss instead of getting wasted after the half time show. It was enough to make one want to dust off that 3rd grade recorder, if only to learn the solo to “The Boy With the Arab Strap”