Yesterday I got to watch a couple of musical geniuses do their thing.
First, Andrew Bird played an in-studio at the radio station where I work, and I watched for a couple of songs. I’m not strictly an Andrew Bird fan, but he is something to see. For this performance he and his band were assembled around one microphone, old-school radio style, with drums, acoustic bass, and acoustic guitar. Bird himself played fiddle (both fingerpicked and bowed), sang and whistled, effortlessly, perfectly, completely in control but with feeling. It was great, and an awesome thing to watch a professional of that caliber up close.
Then last night was Radiohead at the Key Arena. A whole lot of talent went into that event, but I make a point to contrast Thom Yorke’s twitchy, sloppy genius with that of Andrew Bird. Very different, but again something to see, wondering which of their eight albums’ worth of amazing songs he’ll pick next. They mostly stuck to their last three albums, and as usual left me wanting more.
