Kirstiecat | Blog

12/1/6
The Annex in Madison, Wisconsin

I’ve lived in Chicago for over five years now and this is the first time I’ve ever left the city to see a band. Of course, DeVotchKa isn’t just any band. I didn’t leave the city because they weren’t coming here, either. I went on a road trip to Madison in order to see them two days in a row. That is how much I love DeVotchKa, the passionate all at once desperate and carnival gone mad music that makes me aware of every fiber of my being as I can’t help but sway, dance, stomp and feel in a rhythm so complete it’s hard to fathom. Is this mere music? DeVotchKa is transcendent.

There’s always a sense when you are watching the best concert that you’ve waited for earnestly for entire weeks at a time. It’s sort of like an “Is this really happening?” sort of thing. You’ve built it up and now the experience is surreal and transforming. Yet, you can’t quite hold on to it, can you? Since reading Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five in college, I’ve always tried to cope with life and death by adopting the method of the Tralfamadorians (How cool is it that wiki has an entry for that!) in the sense that I try to choose the moments I remember and, in turn, live in. I often actually think to myself while watching an amazing band, “This is it. I’m just going to live in this one moment…in this experience.” If things go terribly wrong someday and I end up a gypsy vagabond myself in some crowded caravan, I will remember Nick Urata singing to me like the most graceful bird, his voice swooping across a five octave span so perfect you get the idea that when DeVotchKa records their songs on album, they only need one take for it.

DeVotchKa is debauchery and turbulent despair. It is the opposite of apathy at all moments in every song. It’s also almost a complete mood swing as the songs are just as likely to make you dance as they are to detail a wretchedness indicative of a fall from grace. Others become a lullaby saturated in a completeness and caressing you better than any hands could. When Nick sings “It’s a shame my dear, there’s no room for us here, so we’re leaving,” you’ll get down on your knees and beg them to reconsider. He’ll sing “You Already Know/How it Ends” (which became the theme song to the Little Miss Sunshine score). Without fail, those swooning lyrics “You already know how this will end,” will circle you and cause you to regret all the small and large inevitabilities in life. DeVotchKa is the stuff of surreal dreams and if all relationships could somehow be landscapes, the way Nick sings he could make you travel the entire world’s geography with every song. As a perfect accompaniment, the violin harmonized and at times the theremin and accordion joined in the chorus. (Nick can even play guitar and theremin at the same time!)Of course, the songs wouldn’t be nearly as complete without Jeanie Schroder’s stand up bass and sousaphone playing either or Shawn King’s occasional trumpeting. My only regret was that DeVotchKa did not play “Viens Avec Moi” either at The Annex or at Chicago’s Logan Square Auditorium. There’s only one thing better than Nick Urata singing in English; him singing in French. Still, with so much love and audience participation in the air, it seemed almost wrong of him to sing, “You only love me when I’m leaving.” It’s not true Nick. We love you all of the time.

If you are unfamiliar with DeVotchKa’s music, don’t you wait one fraction of a second longer. You can become friends and listen to them on myspace

View the complete photo set at The Annex with My Brightest Diamond on flickr

View my friend José’s utube video of this performance

Additional utube of DeVotchKa

Click for more pictures, an approximate setlist and tour dates

Devotchka setlist (approximate):

Tour dates:

Dec 4 2006 8:00P
The Bottleneck Lawrence, KS
Dec 6 2006 8:00P
Suede Park City, Utah
Dec 7 2006 8:00P
Neurolux Boise, Idaho
Dec 8 2006 8:00P
Berbati’s Pan Portland, Oregon
Dec 9 2006 8:00P
The Nightlight Bellingham, WA
Dec 10 2006 8:00P
The Showbox Seattle, WA
Dec 11 2006 8:00P
St. James Vancouver, Alberta
Dec 13 2006 8:00P
Wow Hall Eugene, Oregon
Dec 14 2006 8:00P
Harlow’s Sacramento, California
Dec 15 2006 8:00P
The Fillmore San Francisco, CA
Dec 16 2006 8:00P
Avalon Los Angeles, CA
Dec 17 2006 8:00P
Belly Up San Diego, California
Dec 18 2006 8:00P
Plush Tuscon, Arizona
Dec 19 2006 8:00P
Pulse Albuquerque, New Mexico
Dec 30 2006 8:00P
Ogden Theater denver, Colorado
Dec 31 2006 8:00P
Ogden theater Denver, Colorado

This entry was posted on Monday, December 4th, 2006 at 5:17 pm and is filed under music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.