Draw Breath

Great concert by Joanna Newsom last night. Good support from from Ned Collette (Nick Drake morphed into a one-man God Speed! You Black Emperor) and then one hell of a show from the calloused one and her band. There's nothing better than hearing slight variations on album tracks as the musicians try to keep things fresh. This was most striking with the songs from Ys, at least to me. Wonderful. And, as with all these things, when it comes to more acoustic music, nothing beats seeing the person actually manufacturing the sound on stage. God knows though, if you sit up in the cheap seats you're going to be subjected to an amazing amount of whispering, fidgeting and fucking off to the bar on the part of your tourettes-ridden fellow concert goers. I think I'm getting way too old: we'll have to book a curmudgeons box next time.