I got Kate tickets to go see Beck last night at The Masonic. After our last time seeing him with a symphony, she’d asked me to get her tickets every time he comes into town. Done.
Couple things here.
First, back in ye olden days of high school, Beck’s big breakout album Mellow Gold hit, and with that, the incredibly popular track “Loser” being played non-stop. I fucking hated that song. In general, white guys “rapping” (and those quotes are doing some serious heavy lifting there) is just not for me. Turned me off on him. Actively disliked his first handful of records.
And then I met Kate (who loves him). And I do my best not to yuck her yum. But also, right around the time we met in 2002, he puts out Sea Change. And, my god, if that isn’t just one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking records. Absolutely loved it. Really turned me around (I can rave about 2019’s Hyperspace, as well—though it’s very different).
Fast-forward to our show last night. It’s seated, which the punk in me says “oh, fuck this shit”, but about midway through the show (because it is pretty mellow and sleepy), I’m pretty happy about it.
But also, so interestingly: the show was plagued with technical difficulties: The stage lighting package broke. His monitors stopped working. Half of the plug-in transmitters on the guitars stopped working (so they had to run cables out), and he also mentioned one of the mixing boards failed?
It was cursed… And yet, he, and his band put on a hell of a show. They laughed it off. “Guys we’re just going to do more of a stripped down show, and it’ll be fine…”
That’s a goddamned professional.
