[Review'd] BRIC Gives Us the Bird

via Celebrate Brooklyn

A warbly folk voice, chimey violin plucks and the rustle of brown-bagged, um, sodas (I assume) announced the birth of the 2011 season of Celebrate Brooklyn at the Prospect Park bandshell this Friday. 

Andrew Bird's soaring, but comfy vocals and the sprightly chimes of his favored instrument made this opening gala sound like spring, despite summer's early drenching of the city's armpits. Actually, by the time Bird hit the stage at about 8:45, it had turned downright cool. Luckily, Thursday's rain cut the heat some, though the air was still swamp-ass worthy as Bird watchers (see what I did there?) lined up by the thousands for a shot at a space within the gates. I hit the scene about 7 and followed the line from the playground area looping back out onto the park's main bike/runner/cop car circumferential road. Yeah, it was that kind of line where people say, "Does this thing ever end?" and consider themselves sorta funny. Well, it did end, but as 8pm approached, and you were still standing there contrappasto beside a BBQ pit, it became clear you weren't getting in.

I pulled up a slice of grass amidst the picknickers behind the gates, where there was already precious little space: Prospect Park head counted about 12,000 indie rockin' souls. When introductory voices finally sounded from the stage, I joined the gaggle of fans standing behind the fence for a decent view between the trees. You could spot the cavelike background, lit intermittently by red and purple lights, and various grammaphone-style set pieces around the stage. The topless dancers were a bit distracting, I have to admit. (Just checking if you were paying attention.)

Bird opened with lightly plucked, arpeggiated notes on the fiddle (it's a fiddle until you start bowing, right?). The sound was bright and cheery, soon accompanied by twirling sounds from a pair of siamese gramaphone horns spinning at center stage. Bird then looped his opening plucked melody, adding pretty, bowed violin on top -- such looped, self-accompaniment continued throughout the show. Then, came that gently soaring, very of-the-moment indie voice. I'd suggest Bird and Zach Condon of Beirut sing a duet, but it would probably just sound like you'd amplified one of them.

The second song in the set, Bird still solo onstage, added a Middle-Eastern wail to Bird's violin, set off against the singer's tuneful whistle, a Western jingle that conjured sagebrush, or at least, a cheekfull of chaw. On the third song, Bird's full band -- drums, bass, guitar -- joined, adding some welcome beef to the sound. The bass in the drum seemed to be mixed particularly high, which nicely undergirded the treble prettiness of Bird's violin and voice. The percussion seemed to take the lead on crescendos, giving them a propulsive feel and permitting scattered head-nod dancing.

Suspenseful, arpeggiated plucks on "A Nervous Tick Motion" looped beneath the song's central melody, curiously resident mostly in Bird's tuneful whistling. Here, as elsewhere, his verbose and contemplative lyrics sounded clearly, even back in the peanut gallery behind the fence. "You know what happens when two substances collide," he called out, as a happy audience brashly swigged barely concealed PBR, while cops enjoyed the performance a few feet away. As the light went from dusky to dark, the crowd of bodies turned to shadows backlit by the red glow from the stage. The sound, if anything, got a little too mellow for a tired Friday night, and I joined a sweep of people heading for Donut's on Seventh for some greasy after-concert fare and a non-porta potty. A positive start to the BRIC 2011 season.