Review by Shawn Smith
Better Than: Sitting home listening to raindrops hitting the pavement outside your bedroom window while watching reruns of I Love New York 2.
The Bird and the Bee's Inara George rocks a granny dress like no one's business.
But we'll get to that later.
First, we must wax on about Kevin Poush's new band Two Guns (disclosure: Kevin works at OC Weekly and is an all-around fantastic guy). As the former guitarist for Fielding, we already knew to expect big time greatness, and Kevin didn't leave us hanging. Like a dusty desert highway, Young Guns' first ever show made us thirsty for more of their melodic, good-tempered, solid songwriting.
Next was Charlie Wadhams, who was just one bow tie short of a Victorian mountebank, yet one that sings like an earnest nightingale.
“We're going to rock your socks off,” he said in a monotone droll, absent of any pretension. Mick Jagger he's not. Our socks stuck to our shins no prob. But whatever he's selling, we're buying. And we're broke!
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The stage was warm. The crowd was antsy. The Bird and the Bee were up. Vocalist Inara George is the Astrud Gilberto of her Silverlake generation, not that there is much competition for the title. Her voice pleases like an ice cream sundae. Sweet, cool, with a little bit of crunch in her lyrics. Oh how we sang along with her as she asked no one in particular to be her “Fucking Boyfriend.” And then we gazed longingly and clutched our hearts during her rendition of the Bee Gees' “How Deep Is Your Love.” We adore that girl. Truly. And when she told us she felt like a middle-aged woman at a cocktail party, we knew just what she meant. We too felt like a middle aged woman at a cocktail party, sans silver frock and martini, but that had more to do with the bossanova beats than what we were wearing.
Stage right, the understated Greg Kurstin gave the perfect accompaniment on keyboards and guitar, never stealing the show despite his impeccable musicianship. He doesn't clutter the songs with showiness or ego. Part Lily Allen, part Stereolab, part kick ass cocktail party. There's plenty of reason why The Bird and The Bee is creating so much buzz.
Some clips from last night:
Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: I interviewed Inara George a couple weeks prior to the show and after hanging up had warm and fuzzy thoughts about how cool it would be to live life as Inara George.
Random Detail: The Bird and The Bee not only sold baby onesies at their merch booth, but there was underwear to stock up on as well.
By the way: This was the last chance to see The Bird and The Bee in Southern California before their big whoppin' Coachella debut in late April. Inara is looking forward to sweating it out with everyone else during her first trip to the sweaty oasis.
Click here for more Last Night photos by Shawn Smith.
