Despite being slightly jet lagged from my trip to Chicago, I still ending up going to see the amazingly talented Andrew Bird at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. It was a ticket I had booked way back when. Strangely enough, I found out recently he’s based out of Chicago and here I was seeing him away from his country having just returned from his home city. Strange? Definitely.

The ground floor of Shepherd’s Bush was completely packed by the time he came on and from what I could tell there were plenty of Americans, English and a handful of antipodes around. Andrew Bird’s style of music is definitely unique. It’s laid back, almost music-box like and absolutely enchanting. Just perfect when you want some easy listening tunes. I realise that it doesn’t really do him that much justice however I don’t think words can really describe the performance he puts on for a live show.

For his first song, he made recorded snippets of him playing different instruments, playing them back almost immediately, effectively turning him into his own backing track while he carried on with the main melody. It was completely mesmerising both visually and audibly. It seems like he plays a bazillion instruments and I never realised that the whistling you hear in his songs is also him and not some sort of synthesiser, able to replicate the strength, pitch and tones perfectly in a live show just as much as on the albums.

As a musician, Andrew Bird produces some stunning sounds. As a performer, he’s even more captivating by the way that he produces these intricate sounds with what looks like such minimal fuss on stage that I always thought were produced using some sort of synthesiser.

thekua.com rating: 9 out of 10