Caught a last minute ticket for Beck last night at the Ricoh...the sound wasn't too spectacular but the show itself was well worth the cash. When the opening beats to "Loser" started the show, no one expected to see the band appear as marionettes on the giant video backdrop. Halfway through the song, the humans joined their marionette likenesses on stage and played selections like "We Dance Alone" from The Information, the singles from Guero and the odd classic from Odelay. At the end of the main set, Beck played a few solo numbers, briefly covering "Do You Realize", while his band sat down at a table and ate a meal provided by a waiter. Half way through the interlude, the band started clanging rhythms out on their plates and glasses, and Beck rapped about his pants. They left the stage, and before the encore, the puppets returned in a video that had been shot only that day in Toronto. They were all dressed up in Maple Leafs jerseys and played themselves a cute little hockey game after hanging out by the CN Tower and declaring in a rhyming couplet that Toronto "ain't no burrito, it's a nacho!". Then came the encore, with giant bears and spacemen dancing about to "Hell Yes", followed by "Where It's At" and "E-Pro" as the delicious closers.

It was finally nice to see Beck, twelve years after I first bought Mellow Gold, which was the first non-Weird Al or Kriss Kross album I ever bought, and I credit its hybrid specialties and heavy sampling as a huge influence on my listening habits down the road.


Beck and the Puuppetown Band rocking Washington earlier this fall.

ESB PLAYLIST 10/17/06

CHAM - Rudeboy Pledge
DJ MINI - No Work for Words
DJ MINI - This Is Now
DJ MINI - Walking
HABITAT - Next Yeat
XIU XIU - Buzz Saw (Crystal Castles This Song Is A Mess But So Am I Remix)
THE PRESETS - Down Down Down (Digitalism Remix)
BECK - Dark Star (David Sitek Remix)
LES ANGLES MORTS - Kaleidescope
MODERN BOYS MODERN GIRLS - Edge of My Blade
THE TWO KOREAS - Coat Cloth Revolution
TOKYO POLICE CLUB - Cut Cut Paste (Live)
TOKYO POLICE CLUB - Box (Live)
POP LEVI - Blue Honey