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Friday, November 18, 2011

Show Review / Last Night / Photo Feeling it All: Feist at the Moore (with Tons of Photos!!)

Posted by Josh Bis on Fri, Nov 18, 2011 at 4:17 PM

Josh Bis
Feist, performing at the Moore Theater

The crowd made it out of the cold rain and into the the Moore to witness firsthand the complicated joy of Leslie Feist's voice were, for the most part, a quietly appreciative bunch. Feist has developed from a performer who constructed choruses and rock layers from live looping pedals to someone who travels with a posse: in addition to a drummer and a stack of keyboards, she was joined by Charles Spearin (from Broken Social Scene) playing a collection of antique instruments and Mountain Man, a trio of backup singers who occasionally donned flowing capes lined with sleigh bells. Playing in front of a giant video screen that displayed enthralling visual and temporal kaleidoscopic effects from live video manipulations throughout the show, they solicited plenty of applause and warm sentiments for their sophisticated songs for indie adults. A deconstructed take on "Mushaboom", one of the more charming songs about small town real estate, was particularly nice, and "My Moon, My Man" roused a brave few from the theater's built for a different century seats to dance and clap along.

The set ended with affecting domestic meditation "Get it Wrong, Get it Right" from this year's introspective Metals, with the band returning soon after for an encore that began tranquilly, brought everyone to their feet with big raucous renditions of "Sealion" and "I Feel It All," and concluded with the screen switching to a mesmerizing overhead spinning camera for longtime favorite "Let It Die." Rather than ending the night with the audience on stage (perhaps a vote of no-confidence based on an ill-fated singalong effort from earlier in the show that overestimated the number of cyclists and boating enthusiasts in the house), the show closed with a second encore featuring just Feist and longtime collaborator Chilly Gonzales onstage — he in a silk robe, she perched on the piano — first reclaiming "Limit to Your Love" from James Blake and then covering Peggy Lee. The overall reaction was anything but "meh."

More photos of Feist emoting: