Sometimes you just get lucky. You have to smile when you arrive at a concert venue ten minutes before the doors open, and somehow end up standing first-row-center-stage of general admission. However, this was the case on the evening of September 16th for Ms. S. Rod and I when we saw the group Zero 7 at Webster Hall in Manhattan.
After dining on sandwiches and home-brewed lagers at the Heartland Brewery in Union Square, we made our way down to get in line. To our surprise, the bouncers divided out all of the Will-Call ticketholders, putting us only ten people down once the doors opened. We walked in, proceeded directly to the metal barrier that was three feet from the stage edge, and basked in our amazement. Sure, we had to wait another hour until the opening act, but the sacrifice to the concert gods would yield a shower of musical bliss later on.
Of course, depending on the band, first-row-center-stage could be a death wish for your eardrums if feedback is a heavy component. Luckily it wasn’t a part of Zero 7’s sonic arsenal. It also helped that the crowd was the age range of 20 to 30 — and we would not have to worry about being trampled by pre-pubescent teens.
For those not familiar with Zero 7— the downtempo and primarily electronic band is the brainchild of Brit musicians Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker. Since neither of these two are vocalists, they have employed a handful of singers over their 7 year and 3 album career, that has included Sia Furler, Mozez, Tina Dico, Sophie Barker, and José González.
Similar to the style that Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails employs, Zero 7 has a live band that reinterprets most of the electronic beats and riffs. Like Reznor, Binns and Hardaker play a major part of the onstage performance, each switching between pianos, synths, and percussion— most times in the middle of the songs! Throw in a drummer, bassist, guitarist, and additional keyboardist, and the stage had a lot of action going on.
Like their most recent album The Garden, the vocalists for the show were Sia Furler and Jose Gonzalez. The band maintained a very nice pace, switching between a cluster of Sia’s vocal tracks, then some of Jose’s. While Zero 7 is the marquee name, this show was also about celebrating the talents of these two vocalists.
Sia was absolutely magnetic— when you weren’t in awe of her vocal talents, you were enjoying her eclectic dancing, or her humorous commentary between songs. She even performed her solo breakthrough Breathe Me as an encore, a track most people might recall as the backdrop music during the finale of the HBO show Six Feet Under.
While Sia got to close up shop, Jose Gonzalez was the one to get things started. As the opening act, Gonzalez played an elegantly crafted acoustic set from his solo debut Veneer that yielded many cheers from the crowd. At times, he seemed embarrassed at all of the applause, an aspect that worked as a perfect compliment to the very outgoing Sia.
Whenever either of the vocalists was not singing, they hung out with a dancing and percussion playing Hardaker at a mini-bar at the back of the stage. I chuckled when I saw a roadie set a few bottles of rum and mixers on a back console before the show started. But it made sense if they were coming back onstage in a couple songs.
While I expected that the show would be 75% downtempo songs (others must have thought this as well, as the scent of burnt marijuana was omnipresent), the live band brought most of the songs to new and energetic levels. The group tore through new singles like You’re My Flame, Crosses and Throw It All Away, yet also treated the crowd with fan favorites like Destiny, Distractions, and Somersault.
Normally I have a head-nod going on to most live beats, yet I almost felt like during a couple songs, I was a few shades off of a head-bang. Yes, at a Zero 7 concert. No kidding. Whatever version of Seeing Things you may have heard pales in comparison to the live one. Such a moment impressed me even more about this band. Ms. S. Rod and I expected to walk out of the Zero 7 concert as if we were just at a relaxation seminar. Instead, we emerged invigorated and with even more respect for a talented band and vocalists than we had going in.
Like I said, sometimes you just get lucky. Cheers.