Mesmerizing
Liz Phair In Los Angeles, September 24, 1998
CONCERT DETAILS
MEDIA PERSPECTIVE
The following description of Liz's performance in Los Angeles is
courtesy of Robert Hilburn
(taken from the Satuday, September 26, 1998 editon of the Los Angeles
Times):
Subject: Kinder, Gentler? No. Deeper
Pop Beat: Liz Phair has become a mom since her crackling debut five
years ago, but she's retained her aggressive attitude while becoming a more
complex songwriter.
Date: Saturday, September 26, 1998
There were times during Liz Phair's concert Thursday at the Mayan
Theatre that the spitfire singer-songwriter's first tour in three years
seemed reminiscent of the Sex Pistols' 1996 reunion dates.
The difference is Phair still has something to say.
During Phair's hour performance, several of the songs from Phair's
acclaimed debut album, 1993's Exile in Guyville, felt every bit as
revolutionary -- and surprisingly, as dated -- as such late-'70s Pistols
anthems as "God Save The Queen" and "Anarchy in the U.K."
Where the Pistols attacked the conservative trappings of corporate rock
with snotty arrogance and punk-rock fury that opened the door for a
generation of marvelous new bands, Phair's sometimes R-rated songs
demonstrated in Exile that women could effectively play what for
decades had been strictly a man's game: sex-driven, confrontational rock
'n' roll.
In tunes, such as "Flower" and "Fuck and Run", which talked about
sexual politics and desire with more graphic language than even the bad-boy
Rolling Stones had ever dared, Phair played a pivotal role in preparing the
pop-rock world for a generation of women who also had the confidence and
talent to express themselves with a captivating boldness.
The reason those Exile tunes seemed Thursday as vintage as the
Pistols' classics is a testimony to the remarkable creative outburst of
female artists over the last five years. In a pop age that includes such
valuable and independent artists as Alanis Morissette, Ani DiFranco,
Courtney Love, Polly Jean Harvey and Fiona Apple, the Exile songs
seem like part of a quaint, earlier period.
When many in the Mayan crowd called out for some of the Exile
songs, it felt more in the sense of nostalgia than in the desire to hear
something truly relevant or vital.
That's why, even though Phair and her four-piece band played nearly
half the Exile songs, the high points of the evening were the songs
from Phair's new album, whitechocolatespaceegg.
This album and tour follows a three-year career break during which
Phair was married and gave birth to a son -- and both her new music and her
Mayan performance showed signs of growth.
What was most obvious Thursday was that Phair, who has long struggled
with stage fright, seemed wonderfully at ease. She joked with members of
her band and the audience frequently during the evening, and sang with a
new self-assurance.
The new songs, too, tend to be more revealing and multidimensional than
the Exile songs, whose strengths were tied in large extent to their
cleverness and daring.
"I'm a complicated communicator," Phair declares in "Big Tall Man", a
song from the new album that she didn't perform Thursday -- and it's fair
warning.
In such wonderfully tuneful numbers as "Uncle Alvarez" and "Polyester
Bride", Phair steps back from the literal game plan of Exile songs
to challenge listeners with word puzzles that take time to unravel.
The good news is the songs are worth the effort. These are tales about
sorting through the choices in life; finding the wisdom and strength to
face obligations and expectations without surrendering to or being
suffocated by them. In the album's best numbers, Phair moves away from the
autobiographical edges of her earlier work by frequently switching genders,
characters and even point of view.
Phair gave in to the audience requests and ended the evening with "Fuck
and Run", but the other first encore number -- the tranquil, but
questioning "Perfect World", from the new album -- was a more defining
moment; a sign that Phair herself isn't just a model for today's great
female pop-rock contingent, but still part of it.
The following description of Liz's performance in Los Angeles is
courtesy of kinkling@hotmail.com
(taken from the newsgroup
alt.fan.liz-phair):
Subject: Los Angeles Show Review
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 17:08:19 GMT
Okay, I could start any number of places. She's got herself a
pretty decent backing band, relieving her of guitar duties much like PJ
Harvey has done; Liz only played guitar on two-thirds of the songs. The
set was ONE HOUR long (I could really go off on this, but I'll be
considerate since she's a new mom and no doubt goes to bed by 10:30 -- and
the ticket price was reasonable).
Yeah, she looked great, sounded about like she always does, only got
her fingers tangled in the strings once, and was much more charming than on
the Whip-Smart tour. She's come out of her shell to the extent that
she boogies around to the instrumental sections (or maybe it's just because
she wasn't playing the guitar and had to do something besides stand
there). The theatre (The Mayan) is gorgeous, and she commented on that
right away. Since this WAS Los Angeles, the mood was rather mellow and
feel-good, which suits her new set pretty well. An antsy audience would
have been obnoxious during the slower songs, and a silent dead audience
would merely have been obnoxious, so it was a happy medium. Everybody
seemed to get into the odd sort of rhythm Liz songs tend to have and just
went with the flow.
The crowd was a really mixed bag of twenty and thirtysomethings, almost
none of whom had tattoos and piercings and goatees, something I see at
nearly every show I go to these days. Split evenly between men and women,
but the men tended to be slightly older, and some obviously were only there
because their lovebunny dragged them.
The pacing of the set was good, just kind of rolled along -- the quiet
numbers didn't drag the whole mood down, and the fast ones didn't exhaust
everyone. I still cannot believe someone with that many songs to draw from
would play a 55 minute set, though. The setlist, not in order, as I recall
it:
Explain it to Me 6'1'' Divorce Song Never Said Cinco de Mayo
Mesmerizing Support System whitechocolatespaceegg Uncle Alvarez
Flower Supernova Polyester Bride Johnny Feelgood Fuck and Run
and the one with the line "because I'm a real c--- in Spring/you can
rent me by the hour"...
Altogether it was strangely satisfying and unsatisfying at the same time.
The ovation after the encore went on for ten minutes, but even though the
band had obviously enjoyed themselves and liked the crowd, they didn't
return, which is always a bummer when barely an hour has gone by and you want
more. And the lazy Liz "feel" that I usually drift away blissfully on only
happened on four or five songs. But like I said, she looked good, sounded
good enough, and seemed to enjoy it. And although I kind of liked the solo
electric show she did for Whip-Smart (more personal and lo-fi, which I
prefer), she has put her act together nicely with this touring band. Have
fun San Diego and everyone else in October!
The following description of Liz's performance in Los Angeles is
courtesy of lim7@aol.com (taken from the
newsgroup alt.fan.liz-phair):
Subject: La Liz in L.A (excuse the length)
Date: 26 Sep 1998 20:04:29 GMT
Liz played at the wonderfully intimate, exquisite Mayan Theater,
that Ani DiFranco also played at. It's the perfect setting for a musician
like Liz. I was up front for the show, around the second row of people.
Everyone was really nice about making sure everyone could see. For about
35 minutes, there was a "slide show" of all these pictures of Liz and Liz's
nipples that appeared on the curtains blocking off the stage. I must say
that these pictures got extremely tedious after about 10 minutes. I
thought they'd start showing pictures of Liz's summer vacations and her
first bath after a while, but alas, they just showed the same set of
pictures over and over again. Fortunately, the very mellow and cool
audience gathered at the Mayan theater were not getting antsy or impatient,
and if they were, they certainly didn't show it. Then I saw a little
apparition behind the curtains, holding a guitar, and knew that it was Liz,
and everyone started cheering. She opened up with "Explain It To Me,"
which I thought was a great way to open (by the way, there was no opening
band, which I liked). From there, she proceeded to play songs off of
Exile and Whitechocolatespaceegg and a few from Whip
Smart. I can't remember her entire setlist, but some of the songs she
played were: "Explain It To Me", "Divorce Song" (fabulous), "White
Chocolate Space Egg", "Polyester Bride" (my fave song off the new album),
"Uncle Alvarez", "6'1"", "Johnny Feelgood" (my least fave song off the new
one), "Supernova", "Mesmerizing", "Cinco de Mayo", "Support System",
"Perfect World", "What Makes You Happy", "May Queen", "Dance of the Seven
Veils", "Flower", and another song and "Fuck and Run" were the encores, and
I think I'm leaving out about 2 songs. The best part was when she asked
everyone to help her sing "Flower". Everyone knew the words, and it was
great screaming "I'll fuck you and your minions too" with hundreds of other
people. She also did a kickin' rendition of "Fuck and Run", and she really
rocked out towards the end of it, dancing by herself. The encore song she
played before "Fuck and Run", which I'm really ashamed to admit I forgot,
she played by herself and she fucked up once and laughed a bit nervously
but everyone cheered for her. She played for only an hour, which is my
only complaint. I would have liked to hear "Baby Got Going", "Go On
Ahead", and "Girls! Girls! Girls!" but its all good. Liz isn't the most
energetic performer, but she did a lot of seductive dancing, and this weird
yoga-like thing for one of her songs. Her band was very loud and
accompanied her well, but they weren't exceptional. I liked hearing her
with a full band though. She sounded much better, and her voice was
amazing. She wore this long dress that was patterned grey and black and
had a strapless back, and cute little sneakers. She basically looked and
sounded and played great. I was really impressed by how respectful and
cool the audience was. There weren't any of those annoying "I LOVE YOU
LIZ!" teenybopper shrieks that I always hear at Sarah McLachlan shows, but
people still yelled and cheered very loudly. If you get a chance to see
her live, go do it. An hour of Liz beats 3 hours of practically anyone
else.