I don’t think it quite hit me until the marquee from the historic Tower Theater in downtown Upper Darby was finally in view, reading “TONIGHT 8:30, NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL, SOLD OUT”. There was a time for many Neutral Milk Hotel fans that they would have thought this an impossible sight.
It has been well over a decade since the band last performed with the full lineup from their now legendary In the Aeroplane Over the Sea tour. Since that time Jeff Mangum, the band’s front man, has become the J.D. Salinger of indie rock. Continuing to avoid the limelight even as NMH’s modestly successful album began to pick up more and more of a cult following.
This reluctance to play live shows or do interviews only added to the allure of the mysterious, poetic singer songwriter and perhaps did more for the band than any amount of Rolling Stones interviews could have.
From the time I arrived I could sense an almost giddy excitement throughout the most “hipster” crowd one could imagine; beards and flannels as far as the key could see. The night began with a set from opening band, and fellow Elephant Sixer’s, Elf Power. But the real start came at the end of the set when Elf Power was joined on stage by Scott Spillane, the all-purpose brass player for Neutral Milk Hotel. As soon as he belted out the first notes from his handy trumpet you could feel the Neutral Milk Hotel section of the night taking shape.
Then out walked the indie rock’s favorite hermit, Jeff Mangum. Sporting a beard so thick as to suggest he has simply been in a log cabin somewhere waiting for just the right time to return and give fans everywhere what they have so long been craving. Without a word to the crowd he began strumming the opening chords to “Two Headed Boy Part 1.”
Immediately you could tell that it had been a kind fifteen years to Magnum since the original recording of the song. Mangum’s voice was able to travel to all corners of the venue as if it had been a small coffee shop show. Then as the opening song trailed off, on walked the rest of the band; drummer Jeremy Barnes, multi-instrumentalist Julian Koster, and of course the horn man Scott Spillane sporting is distinctive neck beard, now white with age.
As the full band worked their way into their positions on the stage the end of Two-Headed Boy transitioned into the instrumental interlude “The Fool” and from that point the performance was off like a shot. The band’s energy was palpable as they seemed to take little to no rest between songs and before I knew it seemed like they had rattled off 9 or 10 of some of their biggest hits.
One of the things that became much more apparent through watching the live show than I had noticed through recording was the amazing amount of instruments that were used in each and every song.
While Mangum stuck to the right side of the stage with guitar in hand and faced press against the microphone, it seemed that the rest of the band was in constant motion. Koster specifically, showed how much skill it truly takes to be the guy who can play every instrument you never knew existed; the banjo, the accordion, and the singing saw to name a few. The singing, or musical, saw was the one that stood out most for me. For those who have never seen or heard a musical saw it is precisely what its sounds like, simply a bow and your run-of-the-mill cutting saw. But somehow Koster is able to take these two ordinary objects and create a sound so dreamy and melancholy it was like nothing I have ever heard before.
The second half of the concert took on a much different vibe as the band began to play some of their lesser known tracks, like “Ferris Wheel on Fire” and “Ruby Bulbs”. This portion also saw the Neutral Milk Hotel go into more of a jam band mode. In contrast to the hectic first half, the later part of the show took a more relaxed tone. One thing that was obvious during this portion was how much the whole group enjoyed performing together and how much they must have missed it during their extended hiatus.
Then came the encore. After finishing the pre-encore concert with some of their more unknown songs they got back to their Aeroplane roots by featuring the final three songs in their original album order beginning with “Ghost” which transfers seamlessly into the get-up-out-of-your-seat “Untitled”. They then finished the night off with “Two Headed Part 2” and “Engine”, two slower acoustically driven songs, the latter described by Koster as the bands lullaby for the crowd.
Those hoping to learn about the reluctant rock star, Mangum, will have to continue to hope as he kept his banter to a bare minimum saying about 25 words total. For me, this is exactly how it should be. A man who has kept himself out of the spotlight for so long is clearly not someone who is comfortable with being in front of the crowd so I’m kind of glad he didn’t force the awkward fan pandering that is so common in concerts. He let the songs do the talking and I think they spoke for him just fine.
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