This particular blog's favourite rock duo-- Chicago's Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger, better known as The Fiery Furnaces-- returned to Toronto last night to serve a cup of ridiculously bitter fucking tea to an eager audience. Having just spent a half-dozen months recording & finalizing their sixth LP Widow City, due out in October, the Furnaces rocked the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern as a part of their so-called Fourth of July tour. Are they playing on the Fourth of July, you may ask? Of course not.
After spending some time talking to Matthew and ignoring a forgetful opening set by California's Dios, the band took the stage and erupted into a medley of last year's exceptional Bitter Tea. Identical to the arrangement they played on their last tour, which is completely different to the naked ear from their record, salsafied numbers like "I'm In No Mood" and "Black-Hearted Boy" pulsed quickly and urgently, Eleanor's voice sometimes rapping and sometimes soaring above. Filled out by Sebadoh's Jason Loewenstein on guitar and the rhythm section of Bob D'Amico and Michael Goodman, they were not only playing tighter but appeared much more comfortable with the material than last fall. The usually stoic Matthew looked to be having genuine fun, relaxed in his role as the band's conductor. This medley starts off strong with the killer funk of "In My Little Thatched Hut" and ends beautifully with the flying "Whistle Rhapsody" into "Teach Me Sweetheart", but some of the middle parts could use some more spunk in them. Maybe they don't-- by the end of this portion I was already quite exhausted.
A short intermission later and Eleanor was back on-stage with the band to kick off the second half of the set. They played three new songs from the upcoming record: "Wicker Park", "Japanese Slippers" and "Restorative Beer". "Tropical Iceland" had a lot of fat, dirty riffs in it, while "Here Comes the Summer" was slowed down, perhaps in an effort to make the song a little more melancholy. The highlight for me in this portion was the mashing of songs from the latter half of Blueberry Boat, "Spaniolated", "1917" and "Birdie Brain". The songs were played fairly similar to how they appear on the record, though Matthew didn't bother to sing his spots. These songs, along with "Quay Cur" and "Blueberry Boat", got a big rise out of the crowd as usual. After the end of this set, and a thirty-second encore plea from the audience, the band came back on and played "Widow City" before taking requests and playing the first verse of "Smelling Cigarettes" and "Police Sweater Blood Vow". The second they left again I bee-lined it for the washroom. I had to go at the beginning of their set too, but there was no way I was taking my eyes off these performers.
All in all, another great Fiery Furnaces show. Once again thank you to Matthew, Eleanor & the rest of the band for being so nice in person. As for the new album? From what I've heard of the new record, it's going to be amazing. Eleanor was kind enough to show me some advanced copies and... yeah. Get excited freaks.
SETLIST:
(I can't remember when they played "Beer" or "Slippers", but they did.)
The Bitter Tea Medley
Single Again
Wicker Park
Quay Cur
I'm Gonna Run
Here Comes the Summer
Blueberry Boat
Tropical Iceland
Spaniolated
Inca Rag/Name Game
Birdie Brain
1917
Widow City
Smelling Cigarettes
Police Sweater Blood Vow
1 comment:
Spencer, as a fellow Feiry Furnaces super fan, I see you everywhere! I saw them in Chicago (which I flew all the way out from California for) on June 22nd and I could have written this review myself about that show. They were even wearing the same clothes! Brilliant review of a seemingly brilliant show, keep up the good work.
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