One of the good aspects of living in Barcelona is the vast offer for good international gigs. I have been to some so far, though unfortunately I must say I missed some good ones simply because I couldn’t afford to go. I shall discuss some of the concerts I have been to in this blog, and today I will talk about the time I went to see the Canadian singer/song writer Leslie Feist.
Mostly known by her last name (and hence, the pun at the title), Feist is a breath of fresh air at today’s music industry, and her live performances confirm that even more: she really sings and plays, she’s got a great band to support her and she interacts well with the audience. She also adds up cool elements to her performance, such as some sort of shadows show: she has a couple of artists on the back of the stage playing around with lights and shades, paintings and colours, and using other devices that make the best side dish (for the lack of a better way to describe it) to her songs. And the songs are indeed the main dish! Feist has a beautiful, bittersweet and distinctive voice (though not very potent), that goes along perfectly with her melodies, which range from pop-girlish (such as in the case of One Evening) to a more rock-rhythm-aggressive (like in When I was a young girl).
Talking about other aspects of her career, her videos are generally very creative and involve a lot of fun dancing. It is the case of My Moon, My Man (to me, one of the best music videos ever made) and 1, 2, 3, 4. This last one became very popular because it was featured at an advert for IPod. Some criticism towards Feist is due to the fact that she sold the rights of some of her music to corporations like Apple and Lacoste. (Supposed) politics aside, even if Feist is accused of not being a real “indie” artist rather then just being another pop queen in disguise, that doesn’t take the merits of her music. As a matter of fact, I wished people like Madonna were doing for pop music what Feist is doing now. So what if she is one of the best riff makers of the world nowadays and that makes her a good musical source for the world of publicity? She is still a true artist, who writes and performs her own material with a lot of passion. She also seems to be a well fine and stylish lady, which are not necessarily bad things to say about anyone.
To finish off, one example of her music (you can find some more at YouTube), Sealion: she makes at the same time a remake, a homage and something new out of a Nina Simone song. This performance was for the infamous Jools Holland show, at the same day Radiohead, Dionne Warwirck and Mary J. Blige were also there (what I mix!). You can see Thom Yorke and Mary clapping along the song.
Mostly known by her last name (and hence, the pun at the title), Feist is a breath of fresh air at today’s music industry, and her live performances confirm that even more: she really sings and plays, she’s got a great band to support her and she interacts well with the audience. She also adds up cool elements to her performance, such as some sort of shadows show: she has a couple of artists on the back of the stage playing around with lights and shades, paintings and colours, and using other devices that make the best side dish (for the lack of a better way to describe it) to her songs. And the songs are indeed the main dish! Feist has a beautiful, bittersweet and distinctive voice (though not very potent), that goes along perfectly with her melodies, which range from pop-girlish (such as in the case of One Evening) to a more rock-rhythm-aggressive (like in When I was a young girl).
Talking about other aspects of her career, her videos are generally very creative and involve a lot of fun dancing. It is the case of My Moon, My Man (to me, one of the best music videos ever made) and 1, 2, 3, 4. This last one became very popular because it was featured at an advert for IPod. Some criticism towards Feist is due to the fact that she sold the rights of some of her music to corporations like Apple and Lacoste. (Supposed) politics aside, even if Feist is accused of not being a real “indie” artist rather then just being another pop queen in disguise, that doesn’t take the merits of her music. As a matter of fact, I wished people like Madonna were doing for pop music what Feist is doing now. So what if she is one of the best riff makers of the world nowadays and that makes her a good musical source for the world of publicity? She is still a true artist, who writes and performs her own material with a lot of passion. She also seems to be a well fine and stylish lady, which are not necessarily bad things to say about anyone.
To finish off, one example of her music (you can find some more at YouTube), Sealion: she makes at the same time a remake, a homage and something new out of a Nina Simone song. This performance was for the infamous Jools Holland show, at the same day Radiohead, Dionne Warwirck and Mary J. Blige were also there (what I mix!). You can see Thom Yorke and Mary clapping along the song.
