Set List
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“Here are we, one magical moment, such is the stuff from where dreams are woven, bending sound”— David Bowie ‘Station to Station’ lyrics.
The traveling-by-rail ‘public art project’ known as Station to Station rolled into St. Paul’s newly refurbished Union Depot last week as a multimedia platform for a cultured evening of senses-arousing art experimentation. Several installations and demonstrations were done inside primary-colored Yurts (or tented nomadic art structures) both outside and inside, and there were additional expressions such as locally-based Kate Casanova’s 1976 AMC Pacer, with live growing mushrooms fully encompassing the inside of the car.
The music was also eclectic for the St. Paul stop of this nine-city tour-- from Chicago duo White Mystery who brought their garage rock sound, to Jonny Olsen who played a Laotian khaen, to the experimental punk of Los Angeles’ No Age, Fiery Furnaces’ indie-pop from Eleanor Friedberger, and a much-anticipated appearance from legendary musician/poet/author Patti Smith with eldest son, Jackson.
Most acts were relegated to a brief set of 15-20 min. in front of an expansive three-paneled screen that also showed experimental films between the musical acts. The venue itself was expectedly boomy (not made to be a concert hall) but ended up being more than suitable to experience the varied musical lineup. Friedberger seemed to make the most of her short time, plowing through eight songs in less than a half hour in support of her 2nd and latest album Personal Record (Merge Records), ending with the undeniably peppy, ‘My Mistakes’.
“Long live the railway, long live the Depot”, Patti Smith declared as she ended the evening’s events with an exclamation point. Starting with the introspective ‘My Blakean Year’ and following with a cover of Neil Young’s ‘It’s a Dream’, both seemed more than appropriate starters with their lyrical railway references. Smith’s full band, expanded from what was billed as only an acoustic accompaniment from son Jackson, included Jayhawks’ Gary Louris on guitar and Mark Mallman on keys.
After shooing away photographers and playing a “little song for the girls”, ‘Redondo Beach’, the set hit its stride with a passionate ‘Beneath the Southern Cross’ and crescendo’d with the back-to-back ‘Because the Night’ and ‘People Have the Power’. The band left the stage and house lights came up, but the rowdy crowd would not be denied and were awarded an encore of ‘Banga,’ after several minutes of applauding and foot stomping.
Smith’s set ran just short of an hour, almost double her allotted time, but was still too short for most of the enraptured crowd. Though the performance came off as under rehearsed and a tad sloppy, this was precisely the type of experimentation and ‘creative collision’ that the festival itself was based on, and in that regard, was a complete triumph.
The traveling-by-rail ‘public art project’ known as Station to Station rolled into St. Paul’s newly refurbished Union Depot last week as a multimedia platform for a cultured evening of senses-arousing art experimentation. Several installations and demonstrations were done inside primary-colored Yurts (or tented nomadic art structures) both outside and inside, and there were additional expressions such as locally-based Kate Casanova’s 1976 AMC Pacer, with live growing mushrooms fully encompassing the inside of the car.
The music was also eclectic for the St. Paul stop of this nine-city tour-- from Chicago duo White Mystery who brought their garage rock sound, to Jonny Olsen who played a Laotian khaen, to the experimental punk of Los Angeles’ No Age, Fiery Furnaces’ indie-pop from Eleanor Friedberger, and a much-anticipated appearance from legendary musician/poet/author Patti Smith with eldest son, Jackson.
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ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER
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“Long live the railway, long live the Depot”, Patti Smith declared as she ended the evening’s events with an exclamation point. Starting with the introspective ‘My Blakean Year’ and following with a cover of Neil Young’s ‘It’s a Dream’, both seemed more than appropriate starters with their lyrical railway references. Smith’s full band, expanded from what was billed as only an acoustic accompaniment from son Jackson, included Jayhawks’ Gary Louris on guitar and Mark Mallman on keys.
After shooing away photographers and playing a “little song for the girls”, ‘Redondo Beach’, the set hit its stride with a passionate ‘Beneath the Southern Cross’ and crescendo’d with the back-to-back ‘Because the Night’ and ‘People Have the Power’. The band left the stage and house lights came up, but the rowdy crowd would not be denied and were awarded an encore of ‘Banga,’ after several minutes of applauding and foot stomping.
Smith’s set ran just short of an hour, almost double her allotted time, but was still too short for most of the enraptured crowd. Though the performance came off as under rehearsed and a tad sloppy, this was precisely the type of experimentation and ‘creative collision’ that the festival itself was based on, and in that regard, was a complete triumph.
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Patti Smith at Station To Station, St Paul (09/12/13) |
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