Setlist
Tour Dates
May 28 Omaha, NE, US The Admiral
May 31 Seattle, WA, US Paramount Theatre Jun 1 Portland, OR, US Roseland Theater Jun 3 Outdoor Berkeley, CA, US Greek Theatre Jun 4 Outdoor Los Angeles, CA, The Greek Theatre Jun 5 Pioneertown, CA, US Pappy & Harriet's Jun 7 Phoenix, AZ, US The Van Buren Jun 8 Madrid, Spain Noches del Botánico Jun 10 Oklahoma City, OK, US Criterion Theater Jun 11 Austin, TX, US Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater Jun 13 Nashville, TN, US Ryman Auditorium Jun 15 Outdoor Vienna, VA, US Filene Center Jun 16 New York, NY Capital One City Parks Jun 17 Philadelphia, PA, US Franklin Music Hall Jun 18 Boston, MA, US Roadrunner Jun 30 Vilanova i la Geltrú, Spain Vida Festival Jul 2 Outdoor Madrid, Spain Noches del Botánico Jul 13 Bristol, UK The Amphitheatre Jul 14 Stirling, UK Doune the Rabbit Hole Festival Jul 15 Outdoor Bristol, UK Lloyds Amphitheatre Nov 13 Cardiff, UK Great Hall Nov 14 London, UK The Roundhouse Nov 15 London, UK The Roundhouse Nov 17 Sheffield, UK O2 Academy Sheffield Nov 18 Liverpool, UK Olympia Nov 19 Hull, UK Asylum, Hull University Union Nov 21 Aberdeen, UK Beach Ballroom Nov 23 Edinburgh, UK Usher Hall Nov 24 Newcastle Upon Tyne, O2 City Hall Nov 25 Manchester, UK Manchester Academy Nov 27 Cambridge, UK Cambridge Corn Exchange Nov 28 Birmingham, UK O2 Academy Birmingham Nov 29 Southampton, UK O2 Guildhall Southampton Nov 30 Brighton, UK Brighton Dome Read More
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Open the show was local musician Miloe, who replaced original support act Divino Niño at the 11th hour. Milo is joined on stage with Jacob on guitars, Megan on bass, and Theo on drums. They played a lot of tracks from their Greenhouse EP, including “Winona”, “Floating”, and the title track, “Greenhouse”.
The band ended their set with “Space and Time.”
Belle and Sebastian returned to the Palace Theatre. The last time the group was at this venue, in August 2017, it almost didn’t happen because the tour bus left drummer Richard Colburn at a Walmart somewhere in the Midwest.
The return to the Palace on May 27th also marked another special occasion, as they celebrated one of their crewman, Johnny Lang’s 50th birthday. They actually even planned on having him sing The Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” (after a few shots of whiskey, of course). It was quite an eventful night.
Also, it’s worth noting that Sarah Martin was absent in the band, due to contracting COVID. She’s replaced by violinist/backup vocalist Kristen, at least that’s what I heard singer Stuart Murdoch say on stage.
Although many longtime fans have mentioned that the new record, A Bit of Previous, was a return to form, the band actually played very few tracks from the new album: “Unnecessary Drama”, “If They’re Shooting at You” (a song that’s taken on a different meaning after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine), and “Working Boy in New York City”.
Instead, the band focused on their older music catalog, which is what the fans came for. I know that many diehard fans missed B&S’s appearance at the Minnesota Zoo, which I have previously mentioned was my favorite show, based on their setlist. That’s because the band didn’t have a new album to promote, so they just took fan suggestions and made somewhat of a “greatest non hits” tour. I felt with this new tour, the band continued what they did for the last tour, and played to what the fans wanted to hear.
They had taken in some requests and decided to (their words, not mine!) finally learn how to play “String Bean Jean” and, later “Seeing Other People”, which are both older songs. I’ve always loved “String Bean Jean”, and never really expect to hear it live, but it was awesome to hear it played out. Stuart did mess up on his lines, he repeated “I had to go to work” twice, but it should have been “I had to catch a bus” as the second line. To be fair, the song was written in 1995 (pre-Tigermilk), I didn’t expect anyone, outside of the diehard fans to noticed the Stuart mistake.
On the opposite end of the start of the relationship in “String Bean Jean”, is “Seeing Other People” (from 1996), which is about the same girl, only by this time, their relationship had ended. Stuart joked how he’s still singing about his ex-girlfriend.
The encore included more fan services. After the band returned to the stage, with Stuart goofing off on an electric scooter, the band told the audience they were taking requests. Someone shouted out “Me and the Major”, someone else shouted out “Put the Book Back on the Shelf”. They heard “Stop, Look and Listen”, and Stuart, confessed that while the band remembered how to play it, he honestly don’t remember the lyrics. It was then that Stevie started humming, “Simone said she would think about not seeing you.” And slowly Stuart started to sing out of reflex, “But being deaf and being blind just seems to be the way you spend your time”. They may have missed a few verses, but who cares, this was probably the only time you’ll hear it play live. What a treat.
Then they played “Judy and the Dream of Horses”, per request from the front, and finally ended with “Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying”. I have to admit, this is one of Belle & Sebastian’s best setlist. And talking to fans, they would all agree.
You have to understand that Belle & Sebastian has a very large touring crew (8 musicians, 5 stage crew, 2 sound tech, 1 video tech, 1 bus driver, 1 tour manager), the band sometime can’t get everyone involved to go on tour. For example, Stuart had his God Help the Girl side project, while Stevie Jackson might be busy with a solo recording… so if the band is coming to your town, and you remotely like the band, I think you should go see them. Who knows when they’ll come around your area.
Belle and Sebastian’s new album is called A Bit of Previous, is available on Matador Records.
Miloe |
Belle & Sebastian |
Belle & Sebastian at Palace Theatre, St Paul (27 May 2022) |
vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com |
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