A career that could have easily rode into the sunset on the proceeds of the rap slacker anthem “Loser”, has thankfully pinged through a myriad of styles, collaborations, and years to grace us with mononomic Beck. Over 30 years, I have had the pleasure to view his live shows. Be it the seminal punk rap mashup of the Odelay record at Lollopalooza 2, the cheesy Kmartfunk of the Midnite Vultures record at Massmoca, and now the” wouldn’t it be cool to get an orchestra” to flesh out the Sea Change and Morning Phase records at the Bowl. A 60 piece orchestra allowed for lush arrangements of the ballad heavy recordings. Beck, still the nerdy waif of his 20s, fronts the troupe with an acoustic and a snarky sense of humor. He regales us with stories of stupidly turning down stints with the lucrative Shrek soundtracks and the ominous career twilight use of an orchestra. The setlist didn’t disappoint: Cycle, The Golden Age, Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime (Korgis, cover), Lonesome Tears, Wave, Tropicalia, Blue Moon, Lost Cause, The New Pollution, Missing, Tarantula (Colourbox cover dedicated to the tennis goths), It’s Raining Today and Montague Terrace ( both Scott Walker tunes), Round The Bend, Paper Tiger, We Live Again, Waking Light, and concluded the orchestra set with Where Its At. He does a lengthy encore with just band, the bluesy harmonica One Foot in the Grave, Devils Haircut, Mixed Business, and closed with the anthemic Loser. The nosebleed seats were the perfect place to view on this steamy evening. The arrangements, assisted by Beck’s father, were expertly delivered by the orchestra. Strings, brass, percussion added a dimension to the catalog usually reserved for headphones. As the orchestra leaves the stage, the ever kooky Beck waves “bye bye trombones”, tries to pick up a gaggle of flautists “ where’re you guys going now?” and goofs at the percussionists “this dude left his phone on the smoke machine”. A true musical chameleon, he didn’t even touch my personal fave Guero. Many artists kneel at the altar of cult 60s crooner Scott Walker and Beck used the orchestra to scratch that itch. Very happy this artist did not stop at the unwitting success of Loser.
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