magnetic personalities
So, the show was awesome. Big thanks go to Sooz and Mike the Sound Guy for Magnetic Fields for getting me the tickets. Unfortunately, we got there too late to say hello, and by the end of the concert (yes, not really "show"), fans were mobbing ready to pounce on Stephin and the gang. Plus, I was falling asleep driving my friend Vijay home. (Thanks for going along, Vijay! Glad at least one friend of mine knew who they were!)
I have this to say about Magnetic Fields: 1) They were wonderful. Low key. Stephin has an amazingly calming-yet-cutting voice that I can only liken to one man: Johnny Cash. Not that he could sing Johnny's songs, or vice versa, but his voice can simultaneously soothe and kill. If on stage there had been only a banjo or guitar, a mandolin, and a piano, you might think "folk", but it's been transcended by adding a cello and that amazing voice. 2) It's an odd thing to go see a quiet, unassuming alterna-band in a venue that large and open. It wasn't quite a string quartet, or an orchestra, and so it seemed out of place in a venue made for exactly that with a big pipe organ in the background.
They're in Detroit tonight. If D was closer, I would consider going. It's a different set list, as it apparently will also be in Toronto.
Go see them, especially if it's in another small (< 500) venue.