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Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Beware Tour


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So, who saw the Bonnie Prince last night? It was my first time seeing him, and I thought it was pretty incredible. He had a full band (Cheyenne Mize on fiddle, Emmett Kelly on guitar, Josh Abrams on stand-up bass, and Jim White on drums). The rhythm section was particularly impressive--they looked like jazz players, but they brought a lot of rock energy and intensity. It was more of a "rock show" than I expected, moving quickly from sweet ballads to menacing rockers and drawing heavily on his back catalog during the 2-hour set. There wasn't much banter (mostly notably something about his belt), but Will was fully into the characters of his songs.

 

Edit: (Nearly) complete set list for archival purposes

 

Sheep (from Ease Down the Road)

Hard Life (from Master and Everyone)

You Are Lost (from Beware)

How About Thank You (from a new 10-inch record)

A King at Night (from Ease Down the Road)

Blood Embrace (from Superwolf)

Lay and Love (from The Letting Go)

Where is the Puzzle? (from Lie Down in the Light)

I Send My Love to You (from Sings Greatest Palace Music)

A Minor Place (from I See a Darkness)

The Seedling (from The Letting Go)

I Called You Back (from The Letting Go)

Without Work, You Have Nothing (from Beware)

Beware Your Only Friend (from Beware)

Careless Love (from Ease Down the Road)

Even If Love (from Master and Everyone)

You Want That Picture (from Lie Down in the Light)

[?]

Nomadic Revery (All Around) (from I See a Darkness)

I'll Be Glad (from Lie Down in the Light)

 

ENCORE

You Don't Love Me (from Beware)

[?]

Nobody's Darling on Earth (cover)

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I actually saw him at the Urbana Champaign Independent Media Center the night before to review the show. I loved it, and it seems like it was similar to the show at The Vic the next night.

 

Here is my review to the show: http://blogs.dailyillini.com/entertainment...te-enjoyability.

 

It will summarize what I thought about it far better than anything I type here.

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i was really looking forward to beware. heard it was the best yet...but, it's still the same BS. oldham, who can sing if he wants, just rambling. if i was a musician for higher, i would not back this dude. let's be honest, he sux. i am so tired of artists getting all this praise for just being shitty! it's ridiculous and if this is the future of indie music, then i'll just stick with old standbys. when did 'trying to sound' bad and out of key become cool? i'm talking to you will oldham, jim james, conor oberst, etc. :stunned

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i was really looking forward to beware. heard it was the best yet...but, it's still the same BS. oldham, who can sing if he wants, just rambling. if i was a musician for higher, i would not back this dude. let's be honest, he sux. i am so tired of artists getting all this praise for just being shitty! it's ridiculous and if this is the future of indie music, then i'll just stick with old standbys. when did 'trying to sound' bad and out of key become cool? i'm talking to you will oldham, jim james, conor oberst, etc. :stunned

:dontgetit

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i was really looking forward to beware. heard it was the best yet...but, it's still the same BS. oldham, who can sing if he wants, just rambling. if i was a musician for higher, i would not back this dude. let's be honest, he sux. i am so tired of artists getting all this praise for just being shitty! it's ridiculous and if this is the future of indie music, then i'll just stick with old standbys. when did 'trying to sound' bad and out of key become cool? i'm talking to you will oldham, jim james, conor oberst, etc. :stunned

 

I'll mention to Will not to contact you next time he goes on tour. I'm sure he'll be crushed.

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thanks. also, say hi to the rest of you lemmings.

 

just because he's not a technically accurate opera singer doesn't mean some people can't appreciate his art.

 

as david berman once said "All my favorite singers couldn't sing."

 

 

i haven't seen Will since the _Viva Last Blues_ tour, and i am looking forward to seeing him again.

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just because he's not a technically accurate opera singer doesn't mean some people can't appreciate his art.

 

as david berman once said "All my favorite singers couldn't sing."

 

 

i haven't seen Will since the _Viva Last Blues_ tour, and i am looking forward to seeing him again.

 

 

well, tweedy can't 'really sing' either if we're comparing to opera singers. BUT, tweedy does know how to sound good with his voice and does not make a mockery of himself.

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well, tweedy can't 'really sing' either if we're comparing to opera singers. BUT, tweedy does know how to sound good with his voice and does not make a mockery of himself.

 

 

i'm not sure how closely you've followed Oldham's career, but it's pretty clear to me that self-mockery isn't among his objectives. he does have a different outlook from most, however.

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well, tweedy can't 'really sing' either if we're comparing to opera singers. BUT, tweedy does know how to sound good with his voice and does not make a mockery of himself.

Didn't you post in another thread about hoping to see him when he came to your town or whatever?

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  • 1 month later...

This thread turned sour quickly.

 

I did however, just get back from his show at the Wilbur Theater in Boston and it was simply stunning. The crowd was silent the whole show and Will and his band were just engaging the whole time playing a nice 2 hour set drawing from the majority of his career. Here's a partial list of what he played:

 

EDIT: I came up with a complete setlist on last.fm. I have no idea what How About Thank You or Champion are. New songs maybe?

 

I Am Goodbye

Hard Life

Lie Down in the Light

Sheep

You Want That Picture

Where is the Puzzle?

New Partner

Careless Love

Even If Love

How About Thank You (??)

Gulf Shores

My Life's Work

Blood Embrace

Wai

A Minor Place

I Don't Belong to Anyone

Champion

Keep Eye on Other's Gain

The Seedling

Nomadic Revery (All Around)

_________________

 

You Are Lost

I See a Darkness

I'm Still In Love With Every Girl (Floyd Tillman Cover)

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i was at the show as well, thought it was fantastic. what a great band he's got assembled, especially emmett and jim white. loved some of the arrangements. thanks for the setlist!

 

i really wanted to shoot this show, but drag city said will wasn't granting photo passes and to just be discreet...well, after shooting @ the wilbur WITH a photo pass for mogwai and dealing w/ their headaches, it wasn't worth it. oh well.

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i was at the show as well, thought it was fantastic. what a great band he's got assembled, especially ellis and jim white. loved some of the arrangements. thanks for the setlist!

 

i really wanted to shoot this show, but drag city said will wasn't granting photo passes and to just be discreet...well, after shooting @ the wilbur WITH a photo pass for mogwai and dealing w/ their headaches, it wasn't worth it. oh well.

 

That's too bad you didn't get to take any pictures. I saw someone with a huge camera snapping some pictures right in front of Will near the end of the set. That's kind of a funny venue though. Me and my friend bought our tickets separately and I ended up in one of the gated in GA areas so he had to give me his wristband so I could get up front for the show. I'm glad it was such a quiet show in general too, because on the really rocking songs (Hard Life, Sheep, Keep Eye on Other's Gain), it was impossible to hear his vocals through that tiny PA system. Despite that though, it was an oddly cozy venue (must've been the carpeted floor), and nothing about it could've tarnished such a great show. I was really impressed with his band too. Emmett Kelly was great on guitar and all the harmonies

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That's too bad you didn't get to take any pictures. I saw someone with a huge camera snapping some pictures right in front of Will near the end of the set.

 

yeah, there was a guy behind me who had an SLR too; i heard the shutter a couple of times. it's not worth it for me to run afoul of Live Nation, though. still, it would have been fun to shoot; Will had some, er, interesting faces/gestures going on.

 

 

great show though, i really enjoyed it.

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I caught this leg of the tour in NYC last night. I am relatively new to BPB so I didn't really know what to expect. And let me say that now that the show is over, I am still not even all that sure what I saw. I have never seen anything like it, but it was an absolute blast.

 

Great band. Great vibe. Great songs.

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