The musical chemistry of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward may garner comparisons to Johnny Cash and June Carter; but anyone who's seen She and Him play live knows that the duo feels more like a generous older brother and his beautiful kid sister.
A moment during the final riffs of the band's encore, "Roll Over Beethoven," illustrated the duo's dynamic perfectly. Deschanel and Ward shared the keyboard in the furious climax of Chuck Berry's classic song. When Ward finished masterfully pounding the upper half of the piano, he slammed his fingers on it, and walked away. As he strutted across the stage, he suddenly turns and gestures his hands outwards to Deschanel. Isn't she beautiful? It's all her, the gesture said. Deschanel may have been out front, singing tunes in her suburban drawl and jimmying the tambourine, but M. Ward was calling the shots. She and Him's performance last night was his show.
The first surprise of the night, frankly, was Deschanel's voice. She didn't have the low husk of someone singing for the first time, like she did in Elf (when Ward first noticed her voice), or even later, on the duo's first collaborations on She and Him's Volume One. At times, her seasoned alto echoed through the Uptown with glints of the howling force of Neko Case, or the low-slung purr of Patsy Cline. This killed off any claim that She and Him is another vanity project for an actress: Deschanel certainly has a reason to be on stage, even without a camera tracking her beautiful face. (The first belting notes on her first solo song -- the cabaret sorrow of "Take It Back" -- was hair-raising, even without the beautiful glow of the Uptown's shadowy blue lights.)
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Thanks for the review. I have seen She & Him 4 times now. In July I saw them in Atlanta, GA one night and again the next night in Birmingham, AL. What a difference a day makes. The Atlanta show was plagued by lightning, rain, sound problems and a drunk guy trying to climb the stage. 24 hours later at the very cool Sloss Furnace in Birmingham it was as good as it gets. It was hot but the crowd didn't mind. Z & M and the band were all over it. Lots of energy, great vocals and a loving audience. You can search She and Him Sloss Furnace Birmingham and see several of the songs.
I've seen She & Him in another city, in a similar-sized venue. The sound and lights were excellent there.
You would think an actress would want good lighting but in fact she did NOT. It was requested to have ZERO direct lights on them. As far as sound they bring their own. They need to switch to a smaller venue. It would help their sound tremendously.
Yes the lighting was horrible..very hard to get any quality photos within the first three songs, which I didn't. It's not the venues fault, the bands usually have their own sound man and the bands pick the lighting packages. Last night I was told that Zooey and M.Ward didn't want any direct light on them very similar to when Ryan Adams played a couple years ago.
Uptown has been terrible for about a year and a half now, anyone got any inside info? New (shitty) management maybe?
Agreed - She & Him is great. The sound and lighting sucked. C'mon Uptown - get it together; this was a crappy production for a really good band.
I really like She and Him, and I was really excited for this show. I ended up leaving disappointed (and early!). Though She and Him gave a great performance, the sound was terrible. You couldn't make out any of the instruments no matter where you stood or sat on the floor (believe me - I was all over the place looking for a good spot). I sure hope the Uptown gets its act together before the big shows lined up in the coming weeks. I would hate to be disappointed by the Pavement and Pixies shows.
Gross and disgusting? Haha, just wait til the birth of this thing. Now that's going to be gross and disgusting! The pregnant belly has nothing on that.
Beyond that, what did you think of the show and/or the review of the show, Anonymous?
no sorry, pregnant women are gross to look at and should stay out of public. The guy who knocked you up may say you're beautiful, but let's be honest, a pregnant belly is disgusting.
As a very pregnant lady who was at this show last night (although not the woman you mention above), remember we are pregnant--not dead. We can still go to a show every once and a while. Its not like it was a smoke-filled opium den.
I agree about the sound and lighing though--I enjoyed the show but feel that both of these could have been improved upon.
The lighting was a complete failure - the only white-ish light was sent on Zooey's keyboard. Everyone else was faceless red shadows.
You would think a movie star understands the value of good lighting.
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