eels, March 28, First Unitarian Church Sanctuary

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eels, March 28, First Unitarian Church Sanctuary

POSTED: Wednesday, April 2, 2008, 7:36 PM

Filed Under: Critical Mass | Music

Photo | John Vettese

I don't have a chance at writing the book, I just wanna be a page.

Now, I'm not blaming Sean Agnew or anything. But when that day-of-show R5 list e-mail went out saying that the eels' Philly appearance last weekend was "the biggest production we have ever done in the sanctuary," I was imagining something akin to the Oh, What A Beautiful Morning live album. Lush arrangements. A full orchestra. Lisa Germano on backing vox. None of these was the case, and the production we got - while massive in its own way - was more perplexing than anything else.

Opening the show was a screening of Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives, an BBC documentary on eels impersario Mark Oliver "E" Everett's search to learn more about his father, quantum physicist Hugh Everett III. It was cheeky and touching, but filled with heady mindfuckery about parallel universes and double slit theoretics and waveforms and Schr'dinger's Cat. Fascinating stuff, but it quickly felt like, man, when are we going to lighten the mood and talk about death for a few hours?

Once the screen dropped, the performance itself seemed underwhelming as much as it was hugely complex. The stage was scattered with a bevy on musical instruments - drumkit, pedal steel, singing saw, harmonium, piano. As the show went on, it quickly became clear that the only who would be operating said instruments were Everett and an accompanist he called "The Chet." (Wikipedia indicates his name is Jeffrey Lyster; me and my friends Joey and Eric all nerdily thought it was some nod to "The Cheat" a la Homestar Runner.) The two men rushed from instrument to instrument, mixing up the sounds and reworking songs but occasionally shortchanging things in their attempt to be ambidextrous.

Photo | John Vettese

To add levity to Everett's weighty, morose topical material, the production was positioned as a variety show of sorts...between songs, he self-depricatingly read bitter fanmail aloud, while Lyster read pages from Everett's recent autobiography Things The Grandchildren Should Know. Sometimes an omnisient offtage voice-of-God (get it? God? In the Church?? hahahahaha, man that joke's never been made before) would chime in with remarks like "MARK EVERETT THIS IS YOUR LIFE" or whatnot.

Dispensing with the obvious gripe ("woulda have been nice to know the show was starting with an hour-long physics lesson"), its still hard to make heads or tails of the performance. Entertaining as it was watching E and The Chet dash between instruments, I went into it expecting an orchestra, or at the very least a large band, and what I got felt disappointingly spare. Further, the disparate production elements (the film, the fanmail, the autobiography) didn't seem very well thought-out. Everett changes his M.O. with each eels tour - rock band to string quartet, solo acoustic to orchetra - to keep fans constantly on their toes. But here it felt like he was being conceptual for conceptual's sake, and the pieces fell just short of connecting. (The autobio bit was a bit self-indulgent, to boot.)

At the same time, I can't in good conscience say the performance was a unilateral disappointment. Its spare nature made possible the inclusion of beautiful songs that Everett rarely performs - namely "Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor," a stirring sketch of his late sister that appeared on eels' 1998 album Electro-Shock Blues. The beautiful songs he always plays were made moreso in the setting - the piano-led "It's a Motherfucker" rang off the rafters and sent chills down my neck. Daisies of the Galaxy recieved thorough setlist representation ("I Like Birds," "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues," "Flyswatter"), and the criminally underrated Souljacker popped up via parts one and two of its title track. Even a fakebook cover of Zeppelin's "Good Times, Bad Times" (with E on drums The Chet on guitar and vox) was spot-on and fun.

So...good show? Bad show? The puzzle pieces are all there, and yet it's difficult to say. Perhaps, as Everett's music so deftly mixes beauty and poppy tenderness with bereavement and personal tragedy, so too we are to learn from this show that there is no simplicity in the universe. Life is complex, quantum physics are complex, and it should all be embraced as such. Or, perhaps, the lesson came less from Everett-the-philosopher, and more from the grouchy side of his persona, teaching us to join the ranks of the pessimists.

To wit: if I'd expected nothing, I would have been pleased with what I got.

Marybeth McAndrews

Posted 2008-04-02 15:18:29

Okay, I disagree. The point of the Eels' performance is to be confused by it while enjoying it. We could have gotten an orchestra... but we got that a few years ago. I found the performance to be incredibly E-tastic! Also... with E's book being released and the release of the BBC program... why not focus on it? Most of the songs are about E's father or family, and I quite enjoyed learning about where the songs came from. Also... the opening act for the Eels is *always* weird! One show was E in a fatsuit mixing bad beats (bad as in bad, not bad as in good) and one show started with a communist propaghanda cartoon. It seems E likes to keep us guessing as to what we're going to expect at each show and I say 'keep it up, E!'. I also felt The Chet reading from E's autobio was not far from Andy K reading The Great Gatsby to those chanting 'Latka!' ;) <3 Marybeth.

john vettese

Posted 2008-04-02 15:36:28

I don't think what you said is at odds with what I say, Marybeth. E does try to keep his crowds guessing, tries to keep them on their toes, and I said as much in the review. I too saw the fatsuit DJ Honky thing on the Shootenanny tour (would have liked to see the propaganda, though...damn). I believe that was the same tour where the band came out onstage without him, and they looked at each other all confused-like and then used a searchlight to locate him in the TLA balcony with a harmonica and a radio mic. That randomness totally worked for me; I loved it. This randomness, less so. That said, I'm sure I'll totally pay to see him again next time he tours.

John McAndrews

Posted 2008-04-03 09:36:10

Nice review. I think the book readings let nicely into the songs--especially the story about the ghost of E's sister before "Last Stop: This Town." Also, various Eels websites--including the official one--had stated for awhile that shows on this minitour were just E and Chet, with the documentary serving as an opening act. The Eels live show has never been the same, and i've caught all of their gigs here since they opened for Lush in 1996 (including the infamous Five Spot appearance in which Lisa Germano had an on-stage nervous breakdown and E had a temper tantrum). My friends and I definitely enjoyed sitting through the documentary more than having to suffer through an opening act. The appearance of "Strawberry Blonde" in the set was inspired as it is a rare track from E's solo days and he tends to ignore material from his first two albums. It was, hands down, the best Eels performance I have yet to see in the 20-some times i've seen him. By the way, does anyone remember the band's TLA show in 2003 in which the opening act was two girls running around on stage lip-synching to Jewel's 'Foolish Games?' It was the most genius bit of head-scratching performance art I have ever seen. But who were these ladies? Anyone know?

matt

Posted 2008-04-09 13:42:44

when did they play flyswatter or mr. e's beautiful blues at the show? did they come back out after the lights had come up? i stayed for quite a while, expecting them to, but i left before they did (and there weren't many people left at that point). this was my second eels show, and it was much more enjoyable for me than the last time i saw them at the tla, in their loud rock mode (with the smoosh opener). believe me, i would have loved to have seen the full 'eels with strings' band, but that's one of the realities of eels -- you never know what you're going to get.

matt

Posted 2008-04-09 13:45:02

thinking back, i think i mixed up 'trouble with dreams' and 'flyswatter' -- of did they play both there (i.e., twd, then the e/chet instrument switch bit, then flyswatter)?

john vettese

Posted 2008-04-09 13:51:58

My friend Josh made a similar observation, Matt. I'm not 100% sure about "Beautiful Blues," in retrospect (I could have sworn it was toward the end of the main set, but perhaps I just heard it during the docu and got confused). However, I'm *positive* "Flyswatter" was played, since I distinctly recall Chet twirling back and forth on his stool to alternate between that toy piano intro and the kickin' drumbeat.

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