Photo by Jared Hanson
A Tegan and Sara show is pretty much a sure thing. The Canadian pop-punk-folk duo’s songs are so tightly and energetically structured, so immediately accessible and entertaining, that a good time is basically guaranteed. Tegan Quin + Sara Quin + fans = party time. And at last night’s sold-out show in Oakland, that was certainly true. The Quins’ formula is so airtight that even if the girls seem bored (which they did), or if belligerent fans nearly bring the show to a halt with their bullshit (which they did), everyone will still hop and dance themselves crazy.
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Marianne Faithfull and her lyric book at Yoshi's Oakland. Photo by D. Ross Cameron.
Marianne Faithfull is my absolute favorite singer of all time. I should just admit that right now. This review is not by an apathetic novice or a casual fan of some familiarity with Marianne and her material. This review is by a certifiable megafan who sat in his booth and scarily mouthed the words to every single song throughout the evening, audibly gasping whenever she played a song I hadn’t heard live before. Despite my immense fandom, this was only my second time seeing her in concert. The first time nearly killed me. So, how did show #2 stack up?
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Photo by Kata Rokkar
“We are aiming for sincere energy, not professionalism or fluid transitions.” Those were the words of Thao Nguyen, of Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, halfway through her immensely crowd-pleasing collaborative performance with Mirah last night at Swedish American as part of Noise Pop 2010. And while Ms. Nguyen may have felt the need to defend herself with this disclaimer, there didn’t appear to be a single fan in attendance who wasn’t in complete ecstasy for the duration of the evening.
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Charlotte Gainsbourg is just so effortlessly cool. The daughter of French music legend Serge Gainsbourg and his beautiful British muse, Jane Birkin, Gainsbourg has been singing and acting professionally for over 25 years. Her music has been critically well-received, and she’s worked with such celebrated directors as Franco Zeffirelli, Michel Gondry, Todd Haynes, and perhaps most notoriously, Lars Von Trier for Antichrist, for which she won the Best Actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival. But in an incredibly successful and diverse artistic career, IRM may stand as her greatest triumph.
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Scout Niblett making "Serene Face," one of her two stage expressions (the other is "Howling Rage"), at the Hemlock last year.
Some artists just aren’t well-served by the giddy party-vibe atmosphere of Noise Pop. And last night, despite performing in one of the most intimate and mild-mannered venues in San Francisco, British guitar fury Scout Niblett took her place in that group.
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Mavis Staples testifying at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in October 2009 (photo by Debra Amerson)
There was nothing conventionally romantic about soul legend/civil rights icon Mavis Staples’ Valentine’s Day weekend shows at Yoshi’s Oakland. But while the fleeting whimsies of romance may have been absent, they were replaced by something much more substantive: the fiercely passionate love, devotion, and commitment with which Ms. Staples, 70, has tackled her stirring, liberating material ever since she first began recording with her family band, The Staples Singers, sixty years ago.
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