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FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM

The Weepies have a new album out, Be My Thrill.  It’s fantastic!  And unlike their prior album, Hideaway, they’re touring behind it.  To be fair, they weren’t able to tour behind Hideaway due to a new baby at the time.  With Be My Thrill, they have a 3 year-old and a 6-month old… they’re on the road, and Oregon got a chance to see them twice on their “sponsored by 755 diapers” tour (Eugene and Portland).  I caught the Portland show tonight…

Opener Lucy Schwartz and her two lovely backing ladies hit the stage around 8pm and played a 30 minute set that flew by too fast.  All three women sang, with Lucy at the center but not the sole shining star.  Mona was also talented and fantastic on providing the energetic percussion for the set.  I didn’t catch the guitarist’s name – but again, a great part of the trio.  Favorite songs were “Rain City,” “Seven Hours” (with Aqualung on the recorded version), and “When We Were Young.”  She has a handful of albums, an EP, and songs on soundtracks.  Her latest CD is Life in Letters… and if it’s anything like her live show, it’s a delight.

The Weepies hit the stage around 9pm, surrounded by guitars, candles, and Weepies-cover art lamps.

The light was low due to trying to rely primarily on candles for effect – which was quite nice aesthetically.  Not great luck on the photos in low light (some below, though). The lighting person was also trying to be clever a bit too late or didn’t know the Weepies songs were generally short.  A swirling sun, swirling green light, and fade-in blue light all came on during lyric-instigated songs… right at the end of the song (10 seconds left and boom goes the dynamite).  Awkward at best for the lighting… it would have been best to stick to the candles. :)

Luckily the lighting didn’t impact the songs.  And, in fact, the Weepies via candlelight was sublime.  Deb and Steve played with a backing four-piece band that created some nice folksy, indie-rock, singer-songwriter splendor.  They packed in twenty songs in their 90 minute set – roughly a third from Be My Thrill, and the rest from their other three equally-excellent albums.

Setlist: about 90 minutes

• Please Speak Well of Me
• Stars
• Can’t Go Back Now
• I Was Made for Sunny Days
• Orbiting
• Riga Girls
• Gotta Have You
• Painting by Chagall
• Hard to Please
• They’re in Love, Where Am I?
• Be My Thrill
• Citywide Rodeo
• Sing Me To Sleep
• Antarctica
• World Spins Madly On (with slight false start)
• Just Blue
• Not a Lullaby
• Encore: Nobody Knows Me at All
• Little Bird
• Hope Tomorrow

A beautiful end to a beautiful evening.  If you’re on the fence about checking out the Weepies, either in concert or on record – get off the fence!  It’s great music.  If you’re a fan and are on the fence about going to a show, get your tickets soon.  They’re selling out many of the shows before the day of the show.

more photos below

The Appropriate Linkage:

• The Weepies’ Site
• The Weepies on MySpace
• Lucy Schwartz’s Facebook
• Lucy Schwartz on MySpace
• Aladdin Theater

Check out more tourdates below.

~Dan – np: Peter Mulvey – Letters from a Flying Machine 

LUCY SCHWARTZ & The WEEPIES PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2010 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

The Weepies Fall 2010 Tour