Jeff Mangum - February, 2013
Jeff Mangum.
February 4, 2013. Jefferson Theater. Charlottesville, VA.
February 6, 2013. Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center. York, PA.
This is like the best déjà vu ever, Jeff Mangum performing solo acoustic arrangements of the entire Neutral Milk Hotel catalog. Cut to a nice, well kept theater in a respectively small town with a single chair on stage next to four acoustic guitars. Enter Jeff Mangum.
The setlist comprised of all the NMH greatest hits. All parts of The King Of Carrot Flowers, Oh Comely, Gardenhead/Leave Me Alone, Song Against Sex, Two-Headed Boy... He swapped out Engine and Naomi at the Charlottesville show for Ferris Wheel On Fire and I Love The Living You in York. This was my first time seeing Ferris Wheel On Fire live, and after looking at setlists from other cities, it was possibly the first time he performed it so far on this tour. Oh Sister, after hearing it live, is quickly becoming a BlueSkyCampfires favorite.
Mangum broke a guitar string on the second song in, Two-Headed Boy Pt.2, in Charlottesville, but he kept singing. He placed the guitar down on the floor next to him then calmly reached over for another guitar, and without breaking rhythm or skipping a beat came right back in strumming the song. Everyone cheered. It was pretty awesome.
Every show is a unique experience. The general admission ticket to The Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville found me standing almost dead center about 12 feet from the stage. At the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center we enjoyed front row box seats and watched the show from above.
Both crowds did well singing along. Jeff loves it, and encourages it. Going into The King Of Carrot Flowers medley in York Jeff said, "So I get the feeling you guys, I mean I would like for you to sing. I can already feel a lot of warmth already, so I feel like it's going to be very possible for us to connect that way. So let's do that." One would normally have to go to church on Sunday to hear that many people singing 'I love you Jesus Christ' together, but it's a normal occurrence, a high point even, during every performance of The King Of Carrot Flowers, Pts. 2 & 3.
"I'd really love it if you guys would sing really fucking loud for me," he said again near the end of the set. Not implying they hadn't been necessarily, but certainly asking them to take it up a notch. Someone from the audience asked, "Jeff can we stand up?", to which he replied, "Yeah I don't care" and then trailed off adding "if anyone wants to come closer...". Slowly everyone filled in through the orchestra aisles and around the stage. The next song was Ghost. The crowd sings the instrumental solo while Jeff plays guitar, it's always one of the best moments of the show. Connection made.
Everyone is still on their feet from the standing ovation when Jeff returns for the one-song encore, an all out sing-along for In The Aeroplane Over The Sea. People swayed back and forth arm-in-arm, held up lighters, and belted out every lyric like their next breathe of oxygen depended it. Cut to me a few minutes later walking on the street with a huge smile on my face wondering if that really just happened. It did.
According to his website, walkingwallofwords.com, "...there are rumors going round that this is to be Jeff's final tour. It is not, although to be clear his solo acoustic show will not be returning to any city he has already visited anytime in the foreseeable future."
So if you live somewhere Jeff hasn't played, don't give up hope, he may be coming soon. If you live somewhere Jeff has played, don't give up hope, he may just come back with a whole band.
Strand-Capitol marquee in York, PA. Photo by BlueSkyCampfires.