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LIVE: Time For Beck To Think Small Wednesday October 18, 2006 @ 05:30 PM By: ChartAttack.com Staff October 16, 2006 Ricoh Coliseum Toronto, ON by Noah Love If the attendance at Beck's Monday night show at Ricoh Coliseum was any indication, alternative rock's former golden boy is headed in the same direction as the genre itself. The seating areas in the Ricoh were sparsely filled throughout much of the room, and there was even plenty of space to breathe on the floor. It's time Beck admitted he should to take a step back. Six years ago, he was filling Maple Leaf Gardens. Now, he's barely making a dent in the much smaller Ricoh. By all indications from his three-day trip to Toronto, however, Beck is well aware of his current trajectory and he's taking some entertaining steps to embrace it. For all of its faults, the Monday show will be remembered as the one where Beck brought the puppets to Canada. The puppet show is a stroke of genius. For those who don't know, Beck has a team of puppeteers at the back of his stage doing a full recreation of the real performance. Their version is broadcast on a large screen behind them in lieu of actual footage of the band. Gimmicky though it may be, it was an engaging way to make the crowd forget about the actual lacklustre production. Beck is clearly tired of his back catalogue, so I can't figure why he plays "Loser" anymore. Many of those in attendance were probably too young to even care about the song, so it seems like this might be the time to put it to bed once and for all. If Beck's tired delivery of the track — which opened the show — was any indication, this is probably the last time it'll be aired on his tours. From there, it was a night of The Information and Guero, with only a few exceptions. Those two LPs comprised 16 of the 25 songs played at the show. Due to the quality of these records, this was an obvious hit and miss proposition. The verses of "Girl" sounded as introspective as they do on disc, but the choruses have been watered down to late-era Beach Boys schmaltz. "Rental Car" and "Que Onda Guero" were suitably recreated, particularly the former, which rang clearly through the surprisingly decent sounding Ricoh (I heard nothing but bad things about the venue before going and didn't think the sound was half bad). The dark chords and excellent stage lighting effects of "The Information" and "Motorcade" made them easy highlights from the new record. Beck unwisely chose to play far too much downbeat material from The Information, creating several lulls throughout the show. Also, all of the disc's rap tracks sounded muddled due to their booming prerecorded effects. The only set list surprise (since songs like "Devil's Haircut" and "Where It's At" are Beck show requisites) was the inclusion of a decent chunk of Sea Change. Those tracks — including "End Of The Day," "Lost Cause" and the haunting "Paper Tiger" — were all carefully selected to mesh with the vibe of the rest of the show. "The Golden Age" was capped off with the new highlight of Beck's live sets: the inclusion of a percussive dinner table that his bandmates bang away at. That song quickly cut into Guero B-side "Clap Hands," which itself segued into "One Foot In The Grave" before returning to form. Still, all the puppets and bear suits in the world couldn't make this a truly exciting show. Even Beck seems a little lost on the large stage. Almost all his old bandmates are gone, and were it not for the return of one-time Ima Robot player Justin Meldal Johnson, they all would be. That's why it's nice to see Beck getting back to his roots. Following the show, the band sped off to the Drake and played an impromptu and slightly incognito set that featured, among others, a take on Mutations barn-burner "Diamond Bullocks." As if that wasn't enough, the following night he took centre stage at Bravo's Rehearsal Hall in front of about 80 people and proceeded to play a mostly unplugged set for a show that will be broadcast December 5. That show featured Beck at his best. His vocals were loud and clear, and he was energetic and humourous, joking with his bandmates, improvising songs about Canadian rain, and doing excellent covers and different versions of new and old tracks from his back catalogue. I'm not saying Beck has to start paring his audiences down to the 100-level, but that set proved that a little intimacy goes a long way, and I can't imagine he didn't feel the same. Here's the set from the Monday night show: * "Loser" * "Black Tambourine" * "Mixed Bizness / I Want to Take You Higher Medley" * "Girl" * "Devils Haircut" * "We Dance Alone" * "Que Onda Guero" * "Think I'm In Love" * "Paper Tiger" * "Elevator Music" * "No Complaints" * "Dark Star" * "Motorcade" * "Rental Car" * "Nausea" * "The Information" * "Broken Drum" * "End of the Day" * "Lost Cause" * "Do You Realize??" * "The Golden Age" * "Clap Hands/One Foot in the Grave" * "1000BPM" * "Where It's At" * "E-Pro" |