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February 28, 2005

Girly Redux

[Disclaimer: Some of what follows is too sappy for even us to read, and we wrote it. Consider yourself warned]

While it's true that we're usually total cynics, looking down with Olympian disdain at what is commonly called "human feeling," we've got a soft spot a mile wide when it comes to Ida. And the fervor with which they attacked that weakness last night should become the stuff of legend.

The whole deal was way too much fun. Mascott, who played first, were just too cute. At that point in the show (you know, the beginning), the crowd was way more oldster than hipster, and that was clearly reflected in Mascott's gorgeous, and oh so sanguine (in a good way) Adult Contemporary stylings. Just to be clear, we don't remotely intend such a classification as any kind of slight (they really were great), but you know what they say about shoes or whatever.

Antietam left us a little cold, so we used their set as an opportunity to catch up on some phone calls.

But then there was Ida. We won't go into too much detail, suffice it to say that they were fantastic. We've been waiting for f-ing ever to see them, and it was everything we'd always dreamed it would be. The songs were great, their musicianship was impeccable, and they were so cute as to defy reason.

As a rule, we usually find Karla Schickele's songs to be growers, but her songwriting contributions to Heart Like a River, "What Can I Do?" and "Honeyslide," are early standouts. That was definitely reflected in the live versions last night. It was almost eerie how well they recreated "Honeyslide"s string coda with just a violin, harmonium, and acoustic guitar. God, that was awesome.

Is it possible that by some kind of operant conditioning, we're just wired to always get chills when we hear Liz Mitchell sing?

We'd be remiss if we didn't say how fantastic their new percussionist/multi-instrumentalist is. Hot damn, she (as we will continue to call her until we can find some info, although we think her name is Ruth) was absolutely stellar--an ideal rhythmic complement to the ubiquitous gossamer melodies.

As it turned out, we were flying solo last night, as everyone we knew had "better" Oscar-related things to do. That was probably just as well though, considering we would most likely have embarrassed the hell out of anybody having the misfortune of being associated with us. Rest assured, if we can get all misty while standing next to Alan Licht, we can mos def get that way standing next to you.

We know how painful all of this sap must be to read, so we'll cut it out, but last night's show was just great. Elbows were rubbed, knobs were... hobbed(?), and the music was just oh so brilliant in every sense of the word. You should've been there.

Posted by matt at February 28, 2005 10:37 AM

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