 indie rock photography by jasper coolidge     
Beck 04.16.05
@ Hiro Ballroom NYC It's not all that often that I place myself in these sort of situations - that is watching and photographing a show by someone who's a verified platinum-selling artist and arguably one of the top five performers in the world. Oasis, Courtney Love, Weezer, and Jewel are the ones I remember off the top - and those only in relatively intimate settings (Maxwell's, The Supper Club, Stone Pony, and Metro Bar in some podunk Jersey shore town respectively) - before they graduated to festival size thus ensuring that the only times I would see them would be from my couch instead of the front row. In the case of Beck, it was a stroke of foresighted genius involving a gorgeous fight scene in Kill Bill Vol. 1-esque ballroom tailor-made for these sort of intimate brushes with glory. The folks that put on these shows (another earlier in the week featured Sonic Youth) have brought the arena/clear channel/field day experience back to the level where claustrophobic and not-so-tall people can revel in world-class music just like we did when our world was still new. As far as the show proper - there is no denying Beck's charm, charisma, and stage-commanding soul. Like the lovechild of James Brown and Prince trapped in Richie Cunningham's body he rapped and rocked, spat and popped through seamless flow of songs that was short on "hits" but long on funk and king-fu - his "dancer" being by far the greatest stage hand since the one in the Bosstones and Flava Flav. beck.com |
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