Belle & Sebastian

Last night, I went to the world-famous (?) 9:30 Club to see Belle & Sebastian and the New Pornographers with my friend Rebeccah. Rebeccah is a New Pornographers fan and I am a Belle & Sebastian fan, but I think we're both now convinced to pick up CDs by the other band.

The New Pornographers opened. Rebeccah was disappointed because they didn't play a lot of the songs she liked, because their female singer was sick and couldn't sing. Not knowing any of their songs, I was still impressed with the ones they did play.

Belle & Sebastian were great. I have never seen them live before, and they were delightful. They seemed to be having a great time, and they danced a lot, which was fun. Stevie proclaimed the 9:30 the best club in North America.

I do, however, have a few tips for concert-goers.

1. Feel free to bring your kids! I love to see kids at concerts. Last night we saw a 10 year old and an 8 year old (or thereabouts). Get your kids into music early, I say.

2. Don't wear turtlenecks. OK, yeah, it's still cold outside. I fully support dressing in layers. I myself wore layers last night. But I wore a long sleeve t-shirt with a short sleeve t-shirt underneath. Then, when I got hot, as I knew I would, I could take the long sleeve shirt off. Ahh. That's the way to go.

3. Don't talk through the opening band. It might not be the band you came to see, but it is the band your neighbor came to see.

4. Don't talk through the headlining band. It might not be the band you came to see, but it is the band *I* came to see.

Added bonus: the show was recorded for NPR! You can hear what I heard last night right! now!