Andrew Bird - De Duif, 25 November

Tuesday was either the 3rd or 4th time I've seen Andrew Bird live and it was a brilliant show. To begin with, it was in a unique location, in a church on the Prinsengracht. Most of the audience was seated and the people I was with managed to grab some of the last free chairs. It may be old-fart syndrome talking, but I enjoyed sitting during this concert, concentrating on watching Andrew Bird build layers and layers of song all alone. The church was a bit chilly, but it had a warm echo that added to the sound. Andrew Bird said a couple of times that he very much enjoyed being able to perform there. During Tables and Chairs he tried to get the audience to sing the violin part, but we were a bit shy. He wanted to fill the hall with the sound of voices, to use it as it should be used, but he said maybe we thought it was too reverent of a place to be loud in.

He played many new songs from his album, Noble Beast, that will be out in January. It seemed to me that he played more songs from Mysterious Production of Eggs than Armchair Apocrypha, and then there were a couple of covers, including Giant of Illinois by the Handsome Family. There was also a wonderful song (a cover?) where the violin sounded less orchestral and more like an Appalachian folk song. Perhaps predictably, though I certainly look forward to it, he played Why? He even addressed the fact that he always plays it, saying he was trying to ween himself from it, but he keeps coming back to it because it sets him straight. I don't think any performance can quite match the first time I saw him play it, but I still very much enjoyed it.