I descended into the Doug Fir Lounge on Wednesday night with only vague exposure to Jamie Lidell's music. My expectation, having listened only to Compass - the UK singer's most recent, blues-heavy album - was that I would see a mellow, shoegaze-y sort of show. Instead, both Jamie Lidell, his band, and the opening DJ, Alex B, came on stage with an energy that kept the crowd moving the whole night through.
Alex B launched straight into his bass-heavy set as soon as he walked up to the computer/soundboard set-up that had been waiting at the front of the stage. His music was fast and fun, and got a fair number of people bopping around to it pretty quickly. The crowd really got into the last fifteen minutes of his set, when he started playing songs off of his new album. I always have trouble deciding how I feel about sets like this, because usually a musician behind a soundboard isn't a very entertaining sight to see, but Alex B was pretty energetic as he played, and I think the intimacy of the Doug Fir helped to keep the audience engaged.
Jamie Lidell bounded on stage wearing a suit he claimed (and I'm borderline convinced) was made of fruit roll-ups and with a backing band comprised of a guitarist/bass player, a drummer and a pianist. Also on stage was a second percussion set with a few different types of drums that were banged on throughout the night by the drummer, pianist and Jamie himself. Finally, the middle of the stage was dominated by an epic array of sound boards, a computer and other equipment that was used to manipulate and loop vocal tracks.
Highlights of the set included the song "I Wanna Be Your Telephone," which started with Jamie running around the stage drumming on everything in his path; a solo vocal looping track that Jamie performed when his band briefly vacated the stage; and a bizarre instrument that resembled a drum machine on a strap, used to glorious effect by Jamie's drummer as he danced around the stage.
After an hour, the whole band disappeared back stage, only to come back out about a minute later for an encore that began with a beautiful rendition of Compass' title track. When it was finished, Jamie left the stage again, but returned for another encore after being pummeled with the noise from an adoring audience. His selection upon returning was "Another Day," a song he performed a capella with a smile and a, "It's just you and me, ladies and gentlemen." By the end of the song, it was hard to tell which voice was Jamie's and which was the crowd's, it was so loud in there. The song ended the night on a perfect note, before Jamie sent up a last goodbye and sent everyone out the door.
And while the set sounded great, the best thing about the show was how much fun Jamie Lidell and his band seemed to be having. Throughout the night, Jamie chatted with the audience between songs, telling us about his edible suit, asking for booty shaking during "Your Sweet Boom" from "anyone in the house who's got a derrière," and saying, with a big smile, that it "feels good to be back; I've had some good nights in this room." Hopefully, he comes back to Portland soon for many more nights.
