Confessions of a Concert-going Newbie

MMTC friend Vanessa Walrath wandered into the Walker Art Center Sat night and emerged with this to say:

I spent the majority of my life with only corn fields and the occasional 24-hr grocery store for entertainment. Needless to say, the Twin Cities has broadened my horizons. But three years after moving here, I’m still new at this, still the last one to hear about a great new band or the next life-changing show. So if I blindly wander into a venue at which anything phenomenal is happening, it’s sheer luck.

Well, luck struck again on Saturday night, when I found an extra ticket to the sold-out 8pmWorld of Dosh at the Walker (I only specify time because, even though I thought about sliding under a seat so I could catch the 11pm show, I didn’t). Words do little justice to the experience.

For starters, I have this secret love of experimental/ambient/electronica/hip hop and a not so secret love of jazz, so if a band edges toward that end of the spectrum, I’m happy. Euphoria = Dosh and his friends. I felt like a fly on the wall in a practice space jam session – only the most beautiful, intricate, and skillful jam session I’ve ever witnessed. Each of Dosh’s “friends” held their own, and almost played in a world unto themselves - looping sounds from guitar strings, bass, percussion, baby Yamaha keyboards, etc. as Dosh manned his “rig” of keyboard, Fender Rhodes, grand piano, drum kit and a ridiculous amount of pedals and cables. They passed the melody around with ease, sometimes adding a single note or sound to create a perfect whole.

Dosh’s personal simplicity and humility (his only opening line: “Hi, everybody”) was in direct contrast to the complexity of his sound, layering beats, random sounds, chord progressions to such fullness that when his “friends” stepped back and he played 5+ min. on his own, nothing was missing. However, the final numbers, that included Andrew Bird on violin and whistle + 6 friends +Dosh were a modern symphony that left the audience on its feet (and me wishing I could fit into the garbage can and sneak into the next show).

The only thing I regretted about the experience was that I picked the 8pm performance. I felt like, in spite of the slightly unstructured nature of the music, everyone was very time-conscious, and the encore was cut-short b/c they had to get us out of there in time for the 11pm audience. But being the rule-conscious Midwesterner that I am, I respectfully filed out of the room with everyone else, thankful that Fate had once again smiled on me and allowed me to happen upon that show…

Video: Andrew Bird and Dosh May 3, 2008.