The Fiery Furnaces were spotted by myself and Fee
supporting the other FF band two years earlier. Fee made friends with them after the gig. Anyway, we both bought Gallowsbird's Bark and grew to like it. I bought the next record, and the one after that, not the next one, but I'm gonna get the new one today. I've tried it out. Now I want the proper silver disc...
I went to this with emma. We played it cool in
Edward Rockets then headed in as the support were finishing. Walked straight up to the very front. Some photographers stood in front of us but spent most of the time crouching down. Whelans is so small. The band were two metres away. They felt closer.
Support went off. The Fiery Furnaces came on. They set up their gear. Matt appeared first. He looks big. They plugged things in, tried things out. Eleanor showed up, the bassist and drummer turned out to be the bassist and drummer. We watched them casually prepare - a nice way to start a gig. Eleanor was to my left (closest), then bass, then drums, then Matt to my right (a little further back).
Sound took three songs to get going, but it was great. The natural sound of instruments, PA, monitors. The amps and drums drifted to me through the mix. Matt played no keys, just a tele (with some pedals - the most interesting of them a
moogerfooger (ring mod?) with a VC foot controller to drive it crazy). He played with possession. I'm a bitch, and I was impressed with his playing.
They did a good set, which I could kind of read from the bassist's list. I tended to only read it as they started the songs (just to see what was next). They left a few more gaps between the tunes than the last time. It was a truly excellent concert, as dynamic and multidirectional as their records, but with the added intensity of Eleanor singing hard against a band, and Matt occasionally smiling as things came together.
Mr. Friedburger needed at new 9v battery at some point (pedals are human too). Ms. Friedburger would occasionally walk back and drink some water. The bassist seemed to concentrate very hard. The drummer played very hard. The moogerfooger swirled and sung on top of everything when pushed forward. The right pocket on Matt's denim snap-button shirt wasn't closed all the way. Eleanor wore white trousers and soft shoes.
They did a two song encore.
Matt specifically said "we're gonna play two more songs".
One of the songs was Blueberry Boat.
It's quite a big song.
The show ended. I had promised to pass Fee's regards to Matt (she's back in canada with the nine lesions), so I went over and passed her regards to Matt. He was very nice. We had a mini formal introduction - he said he was Matt, I said I was me. We shook hands, a brief chat on the behalf on a mutual friend.
Hung around a little then headed off home.
