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Andrew Bird changed my life
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In 2004, I went to UPenn with two friends to see the Magnetic Fields. Upon arrival, we learned that the opening act was Andrew Bird. "Oh, this is great," said one of my friends. "This is terrific. He's awesome." My first reaction was, Well, I've never heard of him. The lights went down, and I sat back and waited to see if, to paraphrase the Beatles, Andrew Bird can sing.
Out came a tall, gaunt guy, who stood in front of the microphone and a bunch of effects pedals. He played a piece of music, stepped on one pedal and made a loop of music. He did this a few more times, until there was a mosaic of music behind him. Then he picked up a guitar and played a couple more small pieces and looped them. Then he began whistling, and he's the best whistler in the world. Then he began singing, with a quiet ache of a voice. His songs weren't sad in a depressing way, but a cleansing one, like Nick Drake or Iron and Wine.
By the third song I was no longer clapping at the end, as it didn't reflect the way I feel. By the fifth song I was weeping copiously. Never did that at a concert before or since, but here I was a mess. And at the end of his set, I stood up and applauded. I don't know if anyone else was standing, but it didn't matter to me - that's what I felt and that was the best way I could show it.
Later I thought, here's a guy who 250 million Americans are never going to hear of, let alone hear. But that didn't matter - he was an artist, this was what he did, and whether you were into it or not, he was there handing it out, for you to take or leave. This inspired me to pursue my writing to a greater degree; a year and a half later I was enrolled in the MFA program at UMass. And I can honestly say I wouldn't have done this if I hadn't seen Andrew Bird in concert.
He's doing a concert tonight at the South Portland High School auditorium, supported by St. Vincent. I like to think that there'll be someone in the audience tonight who will be as affected as I was. I'd like to know what direction it takes them in.
To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, here are a number of clips from Andrew Bird concerts. This is "Lull."
This is "Why?".
And this is "Fiery Crash."
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