Andrew Bird, De Duif, Amsterdam 25 November 2008

Has there ever been a better reason to go to church than to see Andrew Bird perform tracks from his forthcoming album? And to church in Amsterdam I went last night to see the mighty man in the flesh.  It is impossible to describe what an amazing live performer he is. As soon as I heard he was playing in this little church in Amsterdam I told every music fan I know not to miss it and unfortunately not one went. It’s hard to blame them as it is so incredibly hard to describe what he does without it sounding slightly nerdish. The opposite is true though – he is by far and away one of the best live performers I have ever seen, displaying skills and talent greater than most everyone I have ever witnessed make live music. 

He is one performer I think everyone should try and see at least once – he is truly spellbinding. He builds up the enormous sounds he makes by recording live, and looping at various intervals, the sounds of him plucking violin strings (which usually makes the rhythm – sounding like a cross between a piano and a banjo), playing dizzy violin patterns, clapping, whistling and of course singing. The result is the very best one-man-band on earth. It is simply stunning to watch such beautiful music being born right in front of you till the climax is this wall of incredible music that has been created in mere minutes before your very eyes.

The new songs which will feature on his new album out in January sounded magnificent. My favourites being Fitz and the Dizzy Spells and Anonanimal. You can catch a stream of the first song Oh No from the new album on his website here.