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Bird and Bee at Turf Club
Bird & the Bee Setlist
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The Bird And The Bee headlined the Turf Club in St Paul on August 11th.
Opening the show was Samantha Sidley, who thanked the audience for “breaking my touring virginity”. This is true and false, as she was on tour with The Bird and the Bee previously, but simply a backup singer. This time around, she is the lead singer and performer, directing and putting together songs to sing.
Joining Sidley on stage was multi-instrumentalist Vikram Devasthali, guitarist Alex Lilly, and Sidley’s wife Barbara Gruska on drums. All the members would later resurface as Lilly and Inara George’s backup bands/backup singers.
Sidley has only released a couple of singles, and working to release her debut album Interior Person… but already critics have already called her music “lesbian jazz”, mainly thanks to the lead single “I Like Girls”.
Like many jazz musicians, Sidley also admit that none of the songs she was singing were written by her, instead relying on Lilly or Gruska to provide the songs. She filled up the rest of her brief set with two covers, a Judy Garland song, “Over the Rainbow” (which appears on The Wizard of Oz) and a Beach Boys cover of “Busy Doin’ Nothin’” (from the album Friends).
Next up was Alex Lilly with another brief set, featuring, once again the talented Vikram Devasthali, and backup singers Samantha Sidley and Barbara Gruska (who came and went when the song required them to appear).
The last time we saw Lilly perform, she only had one album, so she basically played them all. Now she’s about to release 2% Milk, so the majority of these songs are from the new album. Plenty to love about the new songs, including “Pornographic Mind” and set closer, title track.
The Bird And The Bee took the stage shortly after. As singer Inara George would later explain, the show almost didn’t happen: “our bus broke down twice getting here!”
Again, as already previously established, co-creator Greg Kurstin was not at the show. This is because he refuses to tour, and Inara George had to clarify that the band did not break up or anything. I think by now, fans already know this is the case.
Vikram Devasthali would fill in Kurstin’s place, playing everything from trombones to acoustic to bass, etc. Similar to their Nov 2015 show, Alex Lilly and Samantha Sidley would become backup singers.
In addition to the terrible bus problems, the show started off on the wrong foot with singer Inara George saying how much she loves Minneapolis. She was immediately corrected by the crowd in front: “we’re in St Paul!” George would settle on saying how much she loves “The Twin Cities!”
To promote the forthcoming Van Halen cover lover album Interpreting the Masters Volume 2: A Tribute to Van Halen (No Expectations / Release Me Records) the group played three VH songs, “Panama”, “Runnin’ with the Devil”, and “Ain’t Talkin’”. The first of the three was song by Samantha Sidley, because George played the trombones.
Overall, you can tell that these ladies (Inara George, Alex Lilly, and Samantha Sidley) loved touring and love meeting their fans. They certainly enjoyed the last time they were in town (in 2015), so you can bet they’ll be back in the area for a future tour.
Technically there wasn’t an encore, but rather the rest of the band leaves the stage, while Inara George stay on to play requests. She would facetime Greg Kurstin to keep him in as part of the show.
Tour dates:
Opening the show was Samantha Sidley, who thanked the audience for “breaking my touring virginity”. This is true and false, as she was on tour with The Bird and the Bee previously, but simply a backup singer. This time around, she is the lead singer and performer, directing and putting together songs to sing.
Joining Sidley on stage was multi-instrumentalist Vikram Devasthali, guitarist Alex Lilly, and Sidley’s wife Barbara Gruska on drums. All the members would later resurface as Lilly and Inara George’s backup bands/backup singers.
Sidley has only released a couple of singles, and working to release her debut album Interior Person… but already critics have already called her music “lesbian jazz”, mainly thanks to the lead single “I Like Girls”.
Like many jazz musicians, Sidley also admit that none of the songs she was singing were written by her, instead relying on Lilly or Gruska to provide the songs. She filled up the rest of her brief set with two covers, a Judy Garland song, “Over the Rainbow” (which appears on The Wizard of Oz) and a Beach Boys cover of “Busy Doin’ Nothin’” (from the album Friends).
Next up was Alex Lilly with another brief set, featuring, once again the talented Vikram Devasthali, and backup singers Samantha Sidley and Barbara Gruska (who came and went when the song required them to appear).
The last time we saw Lilly perform, she only had one album, so she basically played them all. Now she’s about to release 2% Milk, so the majority of these songs are from the new album. Plenty to love about the new songs, including “Pornographic Mind” and set closer, title track.
The Bird And The Bee took the stage shortly after. As singer Inara George would later explain, the show almost didn’t happen: “our bus broke down twice getting here!”
Again, as already previously established, co-creator Greg Kurstin was not at the show. This is because he refuses to tour, and Inara George had to clarify that the band did not break up or anything. I think by now, fans already know this is the case.
Vikram Devasthali would fill in Kurstin’s place, playing everything from trombones to acoustic to bass, etc. Similar to their Nov 2015 show, Alex Lilly and Samantha Sidley would become backup singers.
In addition to the terrible bus problems, the show started off on the wrong foot with singer Inara George saying how much she loves Minneapolis. She was immediately corrected by the crowd in front: “we’re in St Paul!” George would settle on saying how much she loves “The Twin Cities!”
To promote the forthcoming Van Halen cover lover album Interpreting the Masters Volume 2: A Tribute to Van Halen (No Expectations / Release Me Records) the group played three VH songs, “Panama”, “Runnin’ with the Devil”, and “Ain’t Talkin’”. The first of the three was song by Samantha Sidley, because George played the trombones.
Overall, you can tell that these ladies (Inara George, Alex Lilly, and Samantha Sidley) loved touring and love meeting their fans. They certainly enjoyed the last time they were in town (in 2015), so you can bet they’ll be back in the area for a future tour.
Technically there wasn’t an encore, but rather the rest of the band leaves the stage, while Inara George stay on to play requests. She would facetime Greg Kurstin to keep him in as part of the show.
Tour dates:
08/11/19 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club *
08/12/19 - Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village *
08/14/19 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre *
08/15/19 - Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre *
08/16/19 - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live *
08/17/19 - Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere *
08/20/19 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle *
08/21/19 - Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5 *
08/22/19 - Birmingham, AL @ The Saturn *
08/24/19 - Dallas, TX @ Trees *
08/25/19 - Austin, TX @ Parish *
08/28/19 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom *
08/29/19 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah *
08/30/19 - San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop *
* = support from Samantha Sidley and Alex Lilly
08/12/19 - Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village *
08/14/19 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre *
08/15/19 - Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre *
08/16/19 - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live *
08/17/19 - Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere *
08/20/19 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle *
08/21/19 - Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5 *
08/22/19 - Birmingham, AL @ The Saturn *
08/24/19 - Dallas, TX @ Trees *
08/25/19 - Austin, TX @ Parish *
08/28/19 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom *
08/29/19 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah *
08/30/19 - San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop *
* = support from Samantha Sidley and Alex Lilly
Samantha Sidley |
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Samantha Sidley |
Alex Lilly |
Alex Lilly |
Alex Lilly |
Alex Lilly |
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Setlist |
The Bird And The Bee |
The Bird And The Bee |
The Bird And The Bee |
The Bird And The Bee at Turf Club, St Paul (11 August 2019) |
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