Sorry for the delay, but thought you'd like my report about the Sounds Eclectic Evening (a KCRW affair at the Universal Amphitheatre).

The SEE show was such a wonderful, refreshing, fun evening. It was truly an old-fashioned variety show - so many people, so much different music. But OK - let me start with Beck. He was warm, playful, engaging, in great voice and yet....I must admit I'm slightly disappointed - probably only because I know his music so well and was really hoping he'd play something new - new for him, or new from an upcoming album. But we didn't get that. The set he did, however, was great. Started out with Golden Age, then Lonesome Whistle - then a song from OFITG - Sleeping Bag. Then he covered Big Star's Kangaroo (which he had done at several shows during the SC tours). Then a tribute to Elliott (sp?) Smith with two of his songs. He shifted over to his funky keyboard with the drum machine - started out with a slow, soulful N&G, shifted into Hot in Herre (again sp?), the crowd loved it- laughing along - then morphed into Two Turntables, but incorporated H in H into it. Lots of fun. Then back to the mike with his guitar for Guess I'm Doing Fine, ending with the harmonium and Nobody's Fault. (A funny aside about that - as Beck's putting the harmonium on a stool - a different spot for him - you may remember he had been setting it on the floor - a guy behind me goes, "What the hell is that??" )So you can see that the set didn't contain any surprises, thus the slight disappointment. But as I say, he really was in fine voice. At one point, somebody in the audience called out "I love you, Beck!" He said something like - "Hey Claudia, glad you could make it." And then pointed elsewhere in the audience and called out - "Pauline - you're here!" Then somebody shouted out "It's Jackie's birthday," and...Flaming Lips inspired?..he launched into a melodic version of Hap. Birth., just for the lucky Jackie. At the beginning of his set, he talked about how Shelby Lynne's voice is totally amazing, and how he felt like his was a car that'd been in the garage for a while and needed some warming up. I didn't think so - he sounded fine right off the bat. And man, Shelby flat-out kicked ass. She came out by herself, with one guitar - her voice is truly amazing, and though she only did maybe four songs, there was variety in there, with her final one being Patsy Cline-ish (she even said she wished Patsy Cline would have had the chance to sing it). I would say she impressed everybody in the room - and had a cool new haircut to boot.

Let's see...Damien Rice was quite good - soulful, intense and incredibly grateful to KCRW for introducing him to America (he's Irish). He had a wonderful waif-like female singer accompany him on some songs, and doing some solos. Plus a terrific cello player.

Jurassic 5 was a kick in the pants!! They were so much fun - they knew they were playing to a mostly white crowd - but got everybody up and movin'-groovin'. They had amazing 'mix-masters' behind them. At one point the bass was booming so much - it was loud, but I'm not sure if it was the volume or the note itself - probably both, I guess - that my jeans were vibrating! They were wonderfully engaging and so much fun.

Liz Phair was pretty good - but she didn't come across nearly as strongly as Shelby. Let's see..oh yes..Jem is a very young singer from Britain whom I'd heard on KCRW and thought she sounded a lot like Beth Orton, and that's how she sounded live. She was kind of awkward and really adorable - she'd probably only played before hundreds of people before - not thousands. I didn't get a chance to stay and see Polyphonic Spree, unfortunately. I was looking forward to them. But really a terrific evening - it was exciting to have so many people in one show, and there was a revolving circular stage, so that the next act was completely ready to go

Nice..Sounds like fun! And seriously, Beck's voice has gotten so damn strong in his years as a musician..It kills me every damn time I see him live..And Lonesome Whistle has to be my favorite song to hear him do live..I'm not afraid to admit that it brings me to tears on occasion..

Thanks for the report!:D

Yeah, thanks for the detailed account. I'm glad you liked J5--they are an act everyone should see at least once in their lives. I love the bass in "What's Golden."

Lucky lucky, getting to see Beck. Even after seeing him play so many times in the last year, I'm itching for another show already. Or at least for some leaks of the new stuff!

Wow.:wow:
I even made the wow face.
That is beyond cool.

I noticed that J5 was doing a little pre-show @ The Viper the previous week probably to warm up. They're pretty good.

Thanks poobs, drac, nads and neuwave.

But neu - J5 just pretty good? I came away really impressed. They were tighter than tight (which I should have mentioned, but didn't) - hitting breaks in the music - wham-o - little surprise pauses. And the celebratory attitude. They really seemed to put a whole package together.

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But neu - J5 just pretty good?

Nah Jersey that wasn't a review seeing as I haven't heard much from them, but what I have heard, and seen on MTV2 indicates serious tightness, and since they obviously have your approval, I am definitely going to check out.