A little more than a month after Neutral Milk Hotel kicked off their reunion tour – their first run of shows since 1998* – in Baltimore, Maryland, the iconic group have made the journey down to Australia for their first ever shows in our country. To be considered so early in this reunion cycle, or at all, much thanks to AJ Maddah, is something no one takes for granted. And it’s why I was among many grown men at their first ever Sydney concert to openly weep as they knew they were seeing something truly special – nay, magical – that they never thought they’d get the chance to witness live. Suffice it to say, with an attentive, appreciative and vocal audience in attendance, this was a very special concert indeed.
But the night was not all about Jeff Magnum’s iconic group! There were two other international artists set to grace the stage, with all three bands originally booked to play the now cancelled Harvest Festival. This was the night Sydney came together to try and mend the hole in our hearts that its absence has left behind. And I daresay it did a pretty good job…
First up were Superchunk, the iconic American indie rock, little bit punk group who started Merge Records – that went on to birth the careers of Arcade Fire, Neutral Milk Hotel, M Ward and many others. It was their first visit to Australia since 1996, and though they only had 45 minutes on the stage, they did not disappoint – just as Jim promised they wouldn’t. They kept banter to a minimum and crammed as much as they could into the set, looking back at their 24 year, ten album career.
Highlights from the loud, raw, fuzzy, fast, rockin’ set – which was very well received by the growing crowd, impressing organisers by arriving in their droves well in advance of the 7pm start time; early for a Thursday night! – included “Hello Hawk” off 1999’s Come Pick Me Up, with superb beats and great energy, “Hyper Beat” off 1995’s Here’s Where the Strings Come In, “Void” off their newly released I Hate Music and “Skip Steps 1 & 3” off the Steve Albini produced (and classic in its own right)No Pocky for Kitty, which they commented had just been released when their first toured Australia in 1992.
Next up was M. Ward, the Californian singer/songwriter who is as known for is work with Zooey Deschanel in She & Him, as well as a part of Monsters of Folk, as he is for his solo material. He performed a mix of tracks off of albums like A Wasteland Companion – with the brilliant “Me and My Shadow, Transistor Radio – with tracks like “Fuel for Fire”, Hold Time – from which he included “Never Had Nobody Like You”, Post War and Transfiguration of Vincent. He also threw in a cover of Daniel Johnston’s “To Go Home”. The mix was fantastic, serving Mr. Ward with a great vocal presence. Though his music isn’t widely known, it was well received, and it’s always a pleasure to see the masterful songwriter in action.
Any discussion of Neutral Milk Hotel has to begin with their seminal sophomore record In The Aeroplane Over the Sea, a record which more popular now than it was when it was first released. The fairly young age range at the front of the room at the Enmore Theatre seemed to indicate this in a big way – this record continues to have a unique lifespan of its own. I for one consider it amongst my top ten favourite records, and like many I was introduced to the group in High School – I’ll say in 2002 – by a friend. The record, which sat on my first ever MP3 player (all 256MB of it) for years, became a soundtrack for my youth and one that I’ve continued listening to ever since. It’s beautiful, it’s versatile, it remains a unique musical experience and it will forever be an important one for both people like myself and in the history of independent music. It was also a record that no one – myself included – ever though they would get to see live.
So with this background in mind – and I’m sure it’s something that echos true for a lot of other people as well – you can start to understand why this concert was truly something special. I know it’s highly unlikely I’ll have the opportunity to experience it live again and so it was something I savoured every moment of. The foundation of the set saw a heavily bearded Jeff Magnum and his four other members running through the entirety of In The Aeroplane Over the Sea, sans “Communist Daughter”, which apparently is too difficult to replicate live. Needless to say, it was the songs off this record that were the most well received. As fans of NMH, we do know his other material – and the set included a various mix of tracks from On Avery Island‘s superb opener “Song Against Sex” to the beautiful ballad “Engine” off Beauty which closed the set – but it’s in Aeroplane that we’ve most connected with. So we sung along to every word, wove our hands in the air in some bizaree “kumbaya” type of experience and held back the emotion (or at least tried to) as some of our favourite songs were performed with raw beauty, accompanied by a great crowd, crammed full of fans who felt exactly the same way.
I used the word “magical” before, and this was without question one of those rare concerts.
Despite reports his voice wasn’t as strong as it once was, along with the admission that he wasn’t “feeling well”, Jeff’s voice stood out beautifully and strong alongside the myriad of instruments that lay strewn around the stage. From various types and sizes of saws, to trombones, trumpets and tubas – not to mention the two accordions and assortment of guitars – the music was replicated beautifully, with slight changes here and there to show the band were keeping on their toes and, forgivably, still a little rusty around the edges. But what was perhaps most notable at all, was that some of the musicians on stage were singing along with everyone else, seeming to enjoy sharing these songs with Jeff once again, as much as everyone else in the room. There’s nothing to say that they’ll continue performing together after this tour, and history would tend to suggest they won’t – so they’re enjoying every moment of it. And with receptions like tonight at the Enmore Theatre, you can’t blame them.
The influence of Neutral Milk Hotel – and in particular In The Aeroplane Over the Sea – can’t be understated. Take anyone from Beirut to The Decemberists, Arcade Fire to The National and you’ll hear Jeff’s influence in their songwriting, their approach to the “album” and the barrage of instruments they use to deliver their music. Hell, Beirut even borrowed one of Jeff’s musicians for Gulag Orkestar.
Few adjectives can truly sum a night like this, where music becomes more than just music. It serves as an experience that a group of people share together; one they’ll always look back on and say “we were there”. But maybe there is one way I can sum it all up: in spite of some 12 years of anticipation and longing, Neutral Milk Hotel did not disappoint. And there’s something to be said for that.
Neutral Milk Hotel Setlist:
The King of Carrot Flowers, Part One
The King of Carrot Flowers, Parts Two & Three
Holland, 1945
A Baby for Pree
Gardenhead / Leave Me Alone
Everything Is
Two-Headed Boy
The Fool
In The Aeroplane Over the Sea
Ferris Wheel on Fire
Naomi
Oh Comely
Song Against Sex
Ruby Bulbs
Snow Song, Part One
Encore:
Ghost
[untitled]
Two-Headed Boy, Part Two
Engine
*They have played the odd show in the interim, with some twelve shows between their last tour in 1998 and these shows in October 2013. But I digress…
