Andrew Bird soars in local concert despite clipped wing
“I’ve been wanting to play this stage since before it was finished,” revealed Andrew Bird on Wednesday night. Another rising pop star might have referred to the famed Hollywood Bowl or perhaps an arena like Chicago’s United Center. Suzuki-trained violinist Bird, however, was referring to the Jay Pritzker Pavilion’s stately surroundings, where he launched the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs’ “Blockbuster Week.” Not so long ago, Bird’s hometown fans had to leave the beaten path to catch an intimate show at the Hideout.
High-tech video screens leftover from Oprah Winfrey’s morning presentation with Olympic gold medalists were redeployed, displaying Rube Goldberg devices during the spidery, anxious song “Opposite Day,” and animating the star-crossed love between a man and his giant squid mistress during the lush and gentle “Lull.” The borrowed monitors also allowed thousands on Millennium Park’s Great Lawn to witness finer details, such as Bird’s rainbow-striped socks, revealed upon kicking off his shoes during the opening number.
Performed solo, “Why” provided a three-course meal of drama, comedy, and romantic entanglement, set to surprisingly full-bodied accompaniment. Bird created tense pizzicato loops, and lowered the pitch of legato lines to mimic swooning cellos. Atop these, lighthearted swoops and agitated, classically-inspired flourishes illustrated an argument with a complacent lover. “How I wish it was your dishes you were throwing,” Bird chastised. “Damn you for being so easygoing.”
Bird himself proved even-keeled when, midway through the landmark show, his violin’s top string broke during the anthemic chorus of “Plasticities.” The string “took a piece of the tailpiece with it,” he noted afterward. Following the concerned audience’s gasp, Bird reassured, “It’s fine, there just won’t be too many high notes tonight.”
The show later included a visit from Bird’s alter ego Dr. Stringz, a children’s television character who can “fix and refurbish, and pretty much care for anything that’s got to do with strings.” Bird’s hampered instrument mimicked banjo, ukulele and mandolin, but there was no magical sparkle to render the violin whole.
Though Bird may have tempered some stratospheric solos, listeners wouldn’t have known. With a tremulous and supple voice, an uncannily pure whistling ability, xylophone and guitars at hand, Bird wasn’t short of instruments or talents to bolster his three good strings. A trio of multi-tasking, Minnesotan bandmates helped, too. Martin Dosh frequently abandoned his drum kit after sampling a song’s rhythm, switching to electric piano. Sometimes, he played both simultaneously.
During a rapturous “Fake Palindromes,” hundreds of fans escaped the back seats and lawn, rushing the stage to dance in the aisles. The action brought the crowd to its feet for the concert’s remainder. “Thanks, seriously,” the frequently understated Bird said, touched by the show of collective joy. “You don’t know how encouraging that is.”
Bird also thanked the Occidental Brothers Dance Band International for their opening set, declaring that his favorite local band was “impossible not to dance to.” With the vibrant African pop of songs like “Nyarai,” guitarist Nathaniel Braddock and company had indeed inspired dancing on the Great Lawn and swaying in the seats.
Jeff Elbel is a Chicago freelance writer.