Live Review: Magnolia Electric Co. / Devendra Banhart

Check out:

Magnolia Electric Co. (USA) / Devendra Banhart (Eldorado)

06/28/05
Ancienne Belgique, Brussels

Cell phones, disappeared grooves and freak-outs.

First of all, let me tell you one thing: concert venues are NOT the ideal places to chitchat with friends, hug, slap each other's backs, dance, make phone calls or utter any other stupid random noise. The Ancienne Belgique has one big-ass foyer where you can make all the fucking noise you want, so please… if you intend to be disrespectful of the band and other people in the audience WHO MIGHT HAVE COME TO SEE THE MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO., go to a shithole pub instead! It's always the same thing when "the hit of the moment" hits your town: giggling, laughing, gibbering idiots try to take over the venue, not giving a single shit about the supporting band or anyone who might not be interested in whatever irrelevant story they have to tell. I hate you, all of you.

Anyway, when I arrived at the venue, The Magnolia Electric Co. had already started (because the opening band had cancelled) and I immediately noticed something wasn't quite right. It wasn't only the offensive behaviour of half of the audience, but also the sound was kinda puzzling. What Comes After the Blues, the recently released album that came hot on the heels of the live registration Trials & Errors (which was captured in Brussels two years ago) already seemed to lack something in the intensity department compared to the guitar-dominated live album, but this concert was even surprisingly quiet when compared to the studio album. Molina's voice was way upfront and sounded okay, but the eerie atmosphere of dark bleakness and chilling hopelessness that infests nearly all of his albums was nowhere to be seen or heard. Fifteen minutes in and I'd already heard two of my favorite Molina-songs, the spine-chilling "Just Be Simple" and the chugging groove of "Riding with the Ghost" (introduced by a long foreboding intro), yet none of them really affected me, as the band seemed to have settled for a lazy, laidback night in Brussels. It's no problem if most of your songs are mid-tempo dirges that plod along like early 70's Crazy Horse tunes, but it becomes one if these are delivered with an alarming lack of energy. Trials & Errors did exactly that, confirm your belief that country-inflected stomp-rock could still be relevant in 2005 - this gig was pretty disappointing compared to that, even though you could hardly call it bad. During ballads and quieter songs ("Hold on Magnolia," "Leave the City," "Just Be Simple," etc), the lack of guitar muscle and prominence of pedal steel and bass didn't cause any serious problems, but it's an entirely different thing when the band gets to the songs that should create climaxes. "Hammer Down" and "The Dark Don't Hide It" are songs that deserve to be turned into live monsters, fearlessly grooving guitarfests and it's too bad when they get only halfway there. When the band finally did manage to build up to a certain momentum - with the fairly obscure "No Moon on the Water" - the song was over too fast. They didn't play bad, but it's kinda frustrating when you see a lead guitarist shaking his head to a solo that's barely audible (so to speak), when you hear loads of good songs, but they don't do you anything, not like the studio versions.

While I had high hopes for the Magnolia Electric Co., I didn't really know what to expect from Devendra Banhart, as I'd missed his previous concerts on Belgian ground. It would prove to be a memorable night, mainly because I walked out of the concert when it was only halfway. That's something I almost never do. It became clear really fast who all these beautiful people surrounding me had come for. Banhart has become a new Messiah and his joyous message, hippie image and cosmic mumbo jumbo seem to attract a shitload of young people that would love being a member of a commune or community of beatniks, Freaks or something like that. That's all cool, I loved Rejoicing in the Hands more than almost all other albums of 2004, so I could understand the enthusiasm, but when the first fifteen minutes of a concert are constantly "interrupted" by random shrieks (when Sir Banhart strokes his hair), yells (when someone in his backing band hit a chord) and whistling, you might wonder whether these people have a problem or not. Anyway, the New Weird Folk's Messiah stepped onto the stage and started the show all by himself, did a few "chansons nouveaux" and a nice song by Venezuelan singer Simon Diaz. His trademark voice sounded excellent and when he called his brothers on stage - some of which looked as if they'd been member of the Mothers of Invention - the show promised to take off. It didn't though, as semi-improvised toss-offs (about dogs and vegetables a.o.), silly giggling and gibberish totally disrupted the pace of the set, which couldn't be saved by a good song by Vetiver's Andy Cabic. Even though the majority of the audience definitely seemed to be into this happening-like atmosphere, the childish enthusiasm of those around me, as well as Banhart's animated performance caused me to feel ill at ease, so I left. I definitely dig his latest two albums, but I presume the live experience is simply beyond me. I don't know whether it was because I was in a pretty bad mood before the set (with the crowd being so annoying during the previous concert), because I don't get it or because I'm just too uptight to let go, but a fact is that after a good half an hour, I could only hear six words in my head: GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE. Which is too bad, because reportedly I missed more crowd chants, dancing, kissing and hugging on stage, as well as Banhart waltzing with a huge stuffed animal. Whoopsadaisy.