2006年 Mar 14日 Tuesday, 0:15

Setlist:

Come and Play in the Milky Night
Eye of the Volcano
Vonal Declosion
Visionary Road Maps
Need to Be
Interlock
Pack Yr Romantic Mind
Excursions into "oh, a-oh"
I Feel the Air (of Another Planet)
Mountain
Miss Modular
Whisper Pitch
"…sudden stars"
I Was a Sunny Rainphase
Vodiak
Cybele's Reverie

Widow Weirdo
Outer Bongolia/Metronomic Underground

Thanks to Kevin at the official Stereolab forum for taking the time to write it all down. Lord knows I couldn't be bothered to. ;)

This was my fifth evening spent with the 'Lab and I can honestly say, hopefully in not too blasé-sounding a manner, that they were their usual excellent selves. The bumps were few: most of the sound cut out for a minute halfway through "Come and Play in the Milky Night," and Laetitia accidentally tipped the band's hand by introducing "Cybele's Reverie" a song too early. There also seemed to be a bit of confusion onstage when "Outer Bongolia" segued into "Metronomic Underground," leaving the latter rather truncated.

Minor quibbles aside, the show itself was one long high point from beginning to end. The emphasis was of course on the newer material which may have added to the impact that the older songs had when they did appear; they're definitely the ones that burn brightest in my memory, anyway. I was particularly happy to hear "Mountain" and was ecstatic during "Pack Yr Romantic Mind," since it was only the second time they've played a Transient Random-Noise track in my presence. Laetitia seemed to acknowledge their neglect of this album when she introduced it as "a song many people have been waiting a long time to hear." Hopefully this is signal of its resurgence in their repertoire.

Speaking of Ms. Sadier, she looked absolutely stunning decked out in a burgundy (I think, the lighting made judging its exact shade difficult) dress that left her back and upper arms bare. She seemed to quite enjoy vamping it up for the crowd.

The opening act, Philadelphia's Espers, looked like a cross between Godspeed You! Black Emperor and a hippie commune. Unsurprisingly, their music sounded like the aforementioned mixed with ethereal female vocals and folk guitar. Pretty good set, sounds like their upcoming album will be worth checking out. I must admit that I found the cellist, with her Rainbow Brite-ish attire and Roseanne Roseannadana hair, absolutely adorable.