Live: Fiery Furnaces in Detroit

I got to St. Andrew's Hall around 8:00 when doors opened so I could nab a balcony spot and take some blog-o-rific concert photos. But after I parked my car and got my windshield washed with "100% pimp juice" I found that the show had been moved to The Shelter, under St. Andrew's, because it didn't sell enought tickets.

I had no idea who was opening up the show; I had searched the internet all day at work, and there was no merch table for whoever was going to be the opening act. I asked a few of the event staff and the Fiery Furnaces merch guy and they all said they didn't know. It was the opening date of the tour, so I didn't think anything of it. The stage was set up oddly, and I started to worry around 8:45 when nothing had changed. Then we got out of our seats and headed to the stage to get some prime spots. It was there that I noticed an 8" x 11" sheet of paper that read "Doors 8:00 Man Man 9:00 Fiery Furnaces 10:00." At this point I flipped out and told myself that such a awkward stage arrangement could have only suited Man Man and that I should have figured it out earlier. 9:00 rolled around and they started playing with the lights; I was so excited - I would go see Man Man as a headlining act, and now they are opening for my favorite current band! Then Eleanor came out on stage by herself! How exciting! But she brought bad news: Man Man had not shown up and the Fiery Furnaces were still going to wait until 10:00 to play. My elation turned to angst and I bought some water.

Eleanor changed her outfit (I heard two people say "Hey, that shirt is from Urban Outfitters") and came out with Matt and the gang (Bob D'Amico on drums and Jason Lowenstein on bass) and began setting shit up around 9:45. I felt bad for them. They didn't sell enough tickets, so they got moved to the basement and their opening act was a no show.

I had heard shaky things about their live shows but doubted it out of unconditional fanship, however, after the first ten seconds I realized that if I had never heard any of their music before, or if their records sounded like their live show, I would never listen to them. I understand that they don't want to just re-create their records live, but I don't understand not having a fucking keyboard on stage. Anyway, they started off with "Chris Michaels" - my favorite song on Blueberry Boat and it was great - it just could have been better. They mostly played stuff off of Bitter Tea and Gallowsbird's Bark. I'm assuming they played a lot of stuff from the latter because it's much more guitar based than their other albums and/or because - much like EP - that album's songs are each different, clearly separate tracks, unlike Blueberry Boat and Rehearsing My Choir.

All in all, it was a great show and it was a lot of fun. "Single Again," "Garfield El," and "I'm In No Mood" were all great. "Teach Me Sweetheart" was maybe the best of the night; it switched back and forth between a drum-heavy funk/protopunk rocker during the chorus and a rolling psych-twist for the verses. Very fun. No song sounded like it sounded on the record - even the one's that could have been easily converted, like "Asthsma Attack," were altered. The songs were an odd mixture of deep, heavy, glam-rock solos, thick postpunk, and hard chaos; not what you really expect from the Fiery Furnaces.

Eleanor was adorable all night, snapping/clenching her fingers and slowly letting the music make her move throughout the night (at one point she missed some chord in the middle of the show and shouted "Oh, Fuck!" - very cute). Jason Lowenstein may have been the most entertaining to watch. He was by far the most active on stage - rocking and jolting and bobbing forwards and back - and smoking cigarettes during songs, dragging the longest ashes. He and Matt often glanced at each other, Matt usually smirking or slowly looking away with a "I can't believe my life is this awesome, this is so fucking fun" roll of the eyes and a side-of-the-mouth smile. Bob D'Amico was very busy all-night. These re-invented songs all had a lot of noise, mostly coming from Matt's guitar and Bob's kit. His Yes reunion tour t-shirt was soaked by the end of the night.

All in all, it was a whole lot of fun, just not as much as I assumed and not in the way that I assumed. If you're a big fan of their music, you'll still enjoy their live show just because you can still hear the album version in you head, but if you're not familiar with them, I wouldn't suggest seeing them live.