Music, As It Were: The Bird and the Bee Concert

The Bird and the Bee were kindly welcomed by a full house at the Varsity Theater last night. The Varsity was looking chic with full carpeting, seven disco balls and little christmas trees tucked in corners. The crowd trickled in for the first hour to form what looked like a sell out show. The opening band sounded more like the recorded ambient music that played as people mingled instead of an in the flesh performance. I hardly remember much more than they played soft rock.

Another thirty minute wait though there was no mass set change needed and Bird and the Bee stepped out. Inara was the voice and the storyteller while Greg played the life out of his guitar and various keyboards. All the backup singing was prerecorded so just the two of them were there. Inara wore a fun pink, orange and white polka dot dress while Greg just had a casual black suit and white tie. The music was twisted enough to be different but not ruin their songs. At the end of Because, Greg pulled out a tiny keyboard that played notes that sounded amusingly like techno dog noises. They played one new song that's expected on a digital Valentine's Day EP. Keep your eyes peeled, it's worth a listen.

Between songs, Inara semi-awkardly told stories with swearing and an occasional flop ("that was a joke" she had to inform us). But she praised the audience enough to keep them happy when she told her weird stories. Minnesota is apparently colder than Canada. My favorite story was about her friend's shirts. The friend thought that if her shirts weren't worn in awhile they felt neglected. Poor shirts. In the end, they just spun around to pretend they had gone off stage and immediately followed with their encore.

Overall, The Bird and the Bee pleased. They could work on their stage presence, especially the quiet Greg (except when he was strumming that acoustic guitar!), but I'm sure they'll have another sell out next time they come around. My pictures and vid of the event are a pathetic blurry distant mess. We stood so far back we were five steps from the merch table. I like it back there many times, particularly when it's a newish band to me or I want to see the whole stage. Plenty of heads were in the way, but we all enjoyed our time squeezed in the Varsity. I found myself wishing for Mates of State seeing the duo up on stage. I hope they'll be touring around by fall since they're recording a new album with Jim Eno. But who knows with their brand new kid (congrats to them).