Photo by: Ed Oliver

Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom was the host of two sold out Beck shows last Thursday and Friday evening. I was fortunate enough to score tickets to the Thursday night show.  I have seen Beck several times, each show with a completely unique production behind it. This time around, Beck is touring in support of his latest release Modern Guilt, bringing a more stripped down show, highlighting the music rather than gimmicks.

Psych-pop outfit, MGMT opened the show.  Their debut album, Oracular Spectacular, is a gem and I would strongly recommend it to all.  I caught their set at this years Lollapalooza and wasn’t completely sold on their live show.  It started slow and ended strong, with personal favorite “Kids”.  Thursday nights set started pretty slow and never really got off the ground.  Crowd favorites “Electric Feel” and “Time To Pretend” got people boogying, but couldn’t save an overall lackluster set.

Beck opened his set with the classic “Loser”, instantly bringing me back to my middle school days when Mellow Gold was on repeat for months.  One after another Beck busted out all of the hits, covering the full spectrum of his catalogue, while keeping the flow of the set seamless.  Of course, Beck’s backing band was amazing. I have to admit my attention was seized by the lovely Jessica Dobson on guitar for a majority of the show.  Between her style and swagger, her presence was undeniable. To mix it up, Beck and the gang joined at the front of the stage for a Nintendo version of “Hell Yes”, with Beck using an iPhone app to create some wiggity wiggity whack record scratching sounds.  He also busted out few acoustic numbers from Sea Change, one of the most beautiful albums of the last decade. Other highlights include classic’s “Devil’s Haircut” and set closer “Where It’s At”.

After a short break, Beck returned for a ball busting encore, kicking it off with the Modern Guilt soul-shaker “Gamma Ray”.  For some reason this song always makes we want to do the Twist, so I did!  This was followed by a cover of the Dylan relic “Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat”, “Novacane”, “Profanity Prayers” and “E-Pro”, which was a perfect ending to the night. I was a bit surprised he didn’t play more of Modern Guilt, but was pleased with his selection of tunes from the album, especially with “Chemtrails”.

Thursday’s Set List:
Loser
Nausea
Girl
Timebomb
Minus
Mixed Bizness
Nicotine and Gravy
Que Onda Guero
Hell Yes
Black Tambourine
Devil’s Haircut
Soul of a Man
Orphans
Think I’m In Love
Walls
Missing
Chemtrails
The Golden Age
Lost Cause
Where It’s At

Encore:
Gamma Ray
Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat (Dylan cover)
Novacane
Profanity Prayers
E-Pro

Tags: Beck, MGMT

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