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Author: Alison lacivita

Oh, Belle and Sebastian. So cute. So Scottish. I saw them for the first time at Pearl Street in Northampton two and half years ago when Dear Catastrophe Waitress was released. This is nothing against the band, but I fell asleep (the chairs were quite comfortable - theater seats - red velveteen) and was a little dismayed when I awoke to find the encore underway.

This time, thanks to the wonder of general admission, I managed to stay awake for the entirety of the show, which took place at Metropolis in Montreal. Before I begin to talk about the concert itself, I would just like to take a few moments to discuss the wonder of Canada. My twee-loving travel companion and I, feeling slightly hungry after crossing the border, found ourselves slightly skeptical of the numerous eating establishments all bearing the same moniker: "Restaurant." After many trials and tribulations, we eventually found sustenance at a gas station that sold French porn, clown makeup, toy shotguns, sandwiches in oddly shaped containers and, thankfully, Nutella, the food of the Lord. However, trouble reared its ugly head when faced with the question: "Think they have knives?" The answer, alas, was no. Just when we thought it looked grim, we spotted a towering stack of flat coffee lids and ingeniously decided they could be bent in half and could resemble the item of silverware we so ardently coveted. We were saved and armed in panoply complete, to complete our journey.

Finally, we arrived at Metropolis, land of the Canadian hipster. The opening band The New Pornographers, hailing primarily from Vancouver, began promptly at 8 p.m., and played for much too long. Once upon a time, I enjoyed a few tracks of their Mass Romantic album, but after the release of Electric Version, quickly stopped listening to them. Their performance assured me I had not missed anything since the cessation of my interest their music. They, thankfully, played a few tracks off of Mass Romantic, notably, "Body Says No," "The Slow Descent into Alcoholism" and "The Laws Have Changed." Other than those, I could not tell when one song ended and the other began because of the band's horribly boring and repetitive power chords and even more horribly boring and repetitive lyrics. The only redeeming thing about the band is the girl, whose vocal presence has sadly decreased since Mass Romantic. The only songs that did not make me irritable were those featuring her, which were, not surprisingly, the three off of Mass Romantic I previously mentioned. After about an hour of continuously checking my watch, they finally stopped.

Belle & Sebastian came on around 9:30 and, overall, put on a fantastic show. They played from all over their repertoire, ranging from old favorites such as "Judy and the Dream of Horses," to the newer favorites from Dear Catastrophe Waitress like "Piazza, New York Catcher" and "I'm A Cuckoo," to relatively obscure tracks from their E.P.'s such as "The Loneliness of a Middle Distance Runner," to, of course, a few tracks from The Life Pursuit. The crowd that seemed quite restless during the New Pornographers set became immediately transfixed upon the slight Scottish men as soon as they began and the throngs of girls clad in vintage boots and wide belts quietly and happily sang along with each song. "Piazza, New York Catcher" was perhaps my favorite of the evening, and Stuart Murdoch, Belle and Sebastian's charming lead singer and instrumentalist extraordinaire, switched the lyrics around just enough to jar the crowd out of their trance as they sang along. It was, like, spiritual and stuff.

The latter half of the set was rather energetic for the bashful twee group - a welcome change of pace for those tired after the three hour drive. I tried to dance, but after receiving some unwelcoming looks from the couple next to me, I gave up until the last few songs when I fell into the more acceptable dance of standing there and nodding with my arms crossed. The show was riddled with cute anecdotes, most notably, the discussion of Murdoch's dream one evening, which invovled an interaction with his ex-girlfriend who wanted him to meet her little brother. The little brother, however, was a robot, and he was quite anxious about having to tell his ex that her little brother was robot. This dream, he told us, was what he was thinking about when he made a small mistake in an earlier song. I thought it was endearing. But, honestly, if someone is both awkward and in possession of a Scottish accent, they could tell me anything.