Morcheeba

One of my favorite bands came to town tonight. Morcheeba at the Somerville Theater. I saw them once before, at the Avalon(which doesn't exist any more) about two years ago I think. Their lead singer wasn't the one I was familiar with, I found out later that they had recently made a change. Last time it was a terrific show, and I had a great time. I had high hopes tonight.

First a quick social commentary. Why is it that 'Doors open at 6:30, main act starts at 7:30' means doors open after 7
opening act starts at 7:45
headliners start around 8:45
Annoying and ridiculous. Why can't the actual time of the show be what is listed on the web site, the tickets and the marquee? Wouldn't that make sense? Does anyone prefer this ridiculously inaccurate time reporting? It's worse than Microsoft time estimates on file transfers.

The opening act was awful. Federico Aubele. We thought he was joking. Along with a female companion, he performed strange, unenthusiastic numbers. Both of them seemed bored to tears on stage, counting the minutes until they could get back to sitting on a couch somewhere. Their act features two rattles and a triangle, each used quite sparingly. Terrible terrible terrible. Really, avoid this guy unless you have insomnia.

Far, far after 7:30 Morcheeba enters. This is another singer entirely. And she seems French! It's funny, when she sings their older numbers she has a more British accent. I would guess that this is because she is imitating. The newer the song is, the more her French accent comes out, and when she speaks she has obviously 'traveled all the way from Paris for this tour' as the guitarist confides in us.

The music is catchy and melodic. There is genuine chemistry between the performers, and the music sounds great. Vocals are somewhat de-emphasized, which makes sense considering their turnover, but old songs still sound good. After a nice length set, Morcheeba came back out for a perfectly paced 4 song encore that got everyone on their feet and dancing. People spilled out happy, well done. See them in concert if you can, highly recommended.