Thursday, May 22, 2008

Feist LIVE

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Well that's what an I-Pod advert can do for you. Last time around in Manchester Leslie Feist played in front of around 300 people. This time around the Palace Theatre was full to the brim, packing at least two and half thousand people in.

Yet despite the new found adulation, and the aisles of the Palace were well and truly rocking, this particular listener couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was missing. There is no doubt that Feist is a genuine and unique talent but on this occasion she failed to keep my attention for the full 90 minutes.

The "shadow puppetry" was a nice touch but at times was a little too distracting; whether that was a fault of the production itself or symptomatic of problems with the front-woman herself, is down to personal interpretation.

The versions of her more mainstream (and dare I say listenable) songs were a little leaden (her vocal was almost lost in the noise of My Moon, My Man and Mushaboom lacked the charm of the recorded version) and it's perhaps telling that I was most captivated when her band left the stage and Feist was well and truly centre stage.

You may think from all this that I didn't enjoy it, but quite the contrary, I did. It's just that it didn't match up to last year's visit to Manchester. But anyone going to see her this time around shouldn't worry; Feist still serves up a unique and intriguing night of music.

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