ELEANOR DIG ME: Fiery Furnaces singer Eleanor Frieberger, First Unitarian,
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Opener MGMT continued their streak of great opening sets in Philadelphia, playing as well with the Fiery Furnaces as they did with Of Montreal in October. Though their live show may be a bit low key for some, it was far from boring, and the guitarists had some of the best veins-that-pop-out-of-arm-while-playing in recent memory.
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Surprisingly, the Fiery Furnaces’ disjointed, wandering, and largely epic style of songwriting translated very well to the stage. Singer Eleanor Friedberger wove yarn after yarn in a set comprised of songs mostly from their latest record, Widow City, without losing the crowd’s — or her own — focus, even once.
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You can’t beat sibling camaraderie, especially not when Matthew Friedberger just laughed when someone yelled that his sister was both “so sexy” and “very easy on the eyes.” The older brother, ever protective of little sis.
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Thanks to some crunchy distortion and notes on either end of the 24-fret spectrum, bassist Jason Lowenstein turned his oh-so-beautiful Rickenbacker in to both a bass and a guitar at the same time, effectively showing the crowd that six-strings are for sissies. I can only speak for myself, but I’m sure all bassists in attendance left both a.) wanting nothing more than a Rickenbacker bass guitar and b.) wishing they could play in a band with the fair Eleanor.
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Give Eleanor a Mind Trap brainteaser puzzle, and she will attempt to solve it on stage in between songs (with little success). Thanks to the Mind Trap-carrying fan next to me for revealing this interesting tidbit.
TEXT & PHOTO BY MICHAEL DONOVAN