This was a bit of a punt as I knew that he had been with Fleet Foxes (though only for a while which happened to be both times I saw them). It was a promotional gig for the new album that had been split into two performances to fit the limited St Georges audience capacity. When we arrived there was already a long queue an hour and a half before the gig was due to start for the unallocated seats there.
He came on with just an acoustic guitar and a pianist although many tracks were without the piano and some tracks were with piano but no guitar. Second track in was the brilliant 'Mr Tillman' but all the songs were good and his singing was excellent, strong and melodic. As was indicated by the queues, the audience was super excited to be seeing him - definitely a cult figure to a section of society.
I particularly enjoyed 'Q4' and both of the audience requests he threw in near the end 'So I'm Growing Old on Magic Mountain' and 'Bored in the USA'. He had a warm presence and seemed to enjoy St Georges and the reaction he got. I liked his 'I'm just going to leave you with this final bit of tuning' - he had obsessively tuned between each song.
All in all a different and very enjoyable gig.
Disappointing Diamonds Are the Rarest of Them All
Mr. Tillman
Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings
Kiss Me (I Loved You)
Funny Girl
I Went to the Store One Day
Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)
Q4
I Love You, Honeybear
So I'm Growing Old on Magic Mountain
Bored in the USA
Holy Shit
