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Live Review: The Magnetic Fields at The Wilshire Ebell Theatre, Los Angeles

Story by Sarah Schmelling
liveDaily Contributor
Published July 20, 2004 03:33 PM

If you've heard the music of The Magnetic Fields but haven't seen them play, you could still easily predict one thing about hearing them live: it would be far from the typical rock show.

The band--led by gifted songwriter (and frequent curmudgeon) Stephin Merritt--creates fragile, lyrically intense songs that may be a better fit for an independent bookstore or coffee house than a concert hall. Still, a horde of Hollywood hipsters lined up around the block for a sold-out show at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre on Saturday night.

As it turned out, the band had more than their recorded sound to live up to. Aussie opener Darren Hanlon took the stage, and, after just a few songs alone with a guitar, blew the packed house away, garnering a standing ovation and a mad rush for the CD table. After Hanlon's creative lyrics and huge presence, it seemed even this critically-loved band would need something big to impress the crowd further.

But from the start, it was clear that the goal was not really to impress people. The four seated band members took their time getting started, with Merritt complaining about the (apparently too bright) lighting. Once they began, however, things got better. Playing most of their latest album, "I" (in which all songs start with that letter), along with several tunes from the three-CD opus, "69 Love Songs," and a handful from other albums, the band weaved through a variety of subject matter with sparse but richly used instrumentation--at most, guitar, piano, cello and ukulele.

Songs like "Papa Was a Rodeo" demonstrated their inventiveness--Claudia Gonson on piano and taking vocal turns, Merritt's lyrics, seemingly a joke ("Papa was a rodeo/Mama was a rock 'n' roll band"), but eventually forming a compelling story. And others, including several from the "Pieces of April" soundtrack, showed a more romantic side to a songwriter whose recent lyrics include, "I wish I had an evil twin/Running round doing people in."

Still, Merritt's baritone, which can at times be difficult to understand, made for some monotony. (When he wasn't playing, it sometimes appeared that cellist Sam Davol was actually dozing). The band left out some of their jokiest songs--which, though not exactly deep, would still have spiced things up--and seemed to slow down and make broodier some of those they played. While there was plenty of banter, the seriousness of much of the music kept the audience unusually quiet (especially after Merritt chastised people for cheering and drowning out some of his words).

When, during the encore, Gonson and Merritt made comical performance art of "Yeah! Oh, Yeah!"--she swooned on the piano bench while he stood on a stool, delivering his one-line lyric--it made you wish they had been that animated all along. But, then again, why go see a band you're drawn to for their originality if you're not ready to see something unexpected?

Click here to read a review of The Magnetic Fields' "I."

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