Andrew Bird – St.Giles Church, London 20/11/2008

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Tonight is a special show indeed. In the chilly surroundings of St. Giles church in the heart of London, 300 people huddle together to witness the nervous energy of Andrew Bird as he proffers selections for his forthcoming record Noble Beast. Tonight’s line up is an ornithologists dream, with Canadian Sufjan-alike Woodpigeon acting as support. The giant yet softly spoken and hirsute gentleman quietly warms the audience with his soft acoustic melodies, occasionally regaling them with tales of breaking his foot climbing hills in Scotland.

After a short set, Andrew Bird takes the stage, wrapped up warm in a scarf and waistcoat, shyly acknowledging the crowd. He looks tired, and later admits that he has had very little sleep in the last few days, having flown in from Berlin earlier in the day. Before long however, his frantic ticking energy has the crowd under his spell, as he pirouettes between loop stations, creating his own backing tracks in live-time with clicks and whistles. A virtuoso violinist and, simply put, the greatest whistler in popular music, Bird has to be seen live to be believed. The new material aired tonight will no doubt please fans, and from these solo renderings seem to be a natural, if slightly more ‘riff’ heavy progression from Armchair Apocrypha. Full of tics and nervous energy, Bird is a revelation, and, for me, has one of the sweetest voices of our generation. Along with Gruff Rhys and Josh T Pearson, he is one of the few people who I could quite happily listen to sing the phone book. The highlight of the evening comes when, after a particularly loop heavy new work Bird takes a breather, unplugs his Violin and covers an old Charlie Patton song.

There are few artists who I would recommend that everybody goes to see. Andrew Bird, on tonights evidence is one of those.