Quirky indie multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird returned to Honolulu after two years for a single night’s performance at Hawaii Theatre on Thursday night. The theater was crowded but quiet, as Bird, who began his career as a classically-trained violinist, began with a simple plucking rhythm on his violin and slowly built up layers of sound, using looping pedals to record and play back his violin, guitar, xylophone and singing and whistling voice. At times quietly humorous, at others almost manic, Bird, like M. Ward, gives the impression that most of his music comes from a private, brilliant, eccentric place full of emotion, and it’s just a happenstance that he’s decided to share it with us.
He briefly paused to talk to the crowd. “I spent two weeks relaxing on the North Shore before playing this show… I’ve never felt healthier for a show in my life. It’s a bit unnerving.” he said.
Then it was back to a mix of old songs (favorites like “Effigy,” ”The Naming of Things,” “Plasticities” and an enthusiastically received rendition of “Tables and Chairs”) and new (a brand-new track off his “Break it Yourself” album, called “Sifters,”) and even a cover of Kermit the Frog’s song, “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” His set clocked in at almost exactly two hours.
Here’s a video of Andrew Bird performing “Plasticities,” off his album, “Armchair Apocrypha.”
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