J. Tillman – at The Troubadour – Hollywood, CA

In 2008 I was at the Sasquatch! Music festival and caught a band called Fleet Foxes playing in the early afternoon on a tiny little stage. Most of the festival goers had told to me make sure I caught their performance. I was amazed by the sound and how I hadn’t heard a thing about the group.

So it’s now almost 2010 and J. Tillman, the singer of Fleet Foxes, made a stop at The Troubadour in West Hollywood. The tour was to support his, get this, 6th solo album. I had no clue that he had that much material or what it really sounded like. I would find out this night though.

The night opened up with bassist of Fleet Foxes, Bryn Lumsden, playing acoustic guitar, on a stool, by himself, going by the name Pearly Gates Music. There were only around 20 people in the venue when this started and an eerie silence was over the troubadour. There was no ambient noise from people talking or things moving, it was just the guitar and vocals.

It was airy and the classic guitar was strummed very soft. It did not matter though with the hush in the building. Lumsden stretched and twisted his legs while sitting on the chair, giving off so much emotion and leaving passion oozing from the vocals. His eyes were rarely open and when open his gaze stared off to another place.

When the songs would end an almost different guy would show up on the stage. A guy that was chatty and throwing out jokes.  A guy whose voice seemed nothing like the scratchy vocals of the person singing. It was a fantastic contrast. The set did start to drag on and the venue filled up. Soon the voices of the casual fan were overpowering the soft guitar tunes. It ruined the atmosphere from the start but I am glad to have caught it from the very start.

It was a short set change when J. Tillman and band stepped on stage. The first part of the set was a collection of Fleet Foxes songs which really surprised me. I figured it would be a set of mostly solo material but it was a pleasant surprise. If you haven’t heard a song before let me explain it. The songs build up and I like that. The songs also use random instruments and I like that too.  The songs also have a layer of nosier to them. I like that the most.

While the whole group was jamming out Tillman threw down his guitar and fell to the stage, he started playing the recorder while more noise ensued. He then started hitting a gong while still playing the recorder and finally in one big swoop knocked the entire gong and causing the stand to fly into the audience, actually hitting me.

He did apologize after the song about the snafu and then went on to talk about how he should have been a park ranger. Actually it was an internet park range because “there are not enough internet park rangers.” I think it may have been an inside joke but that’s the best banter on stage.

The set would switch up and Tillman would just break into a solo song on his guitar. It was good, but it just sounded better when more members would join in. It also made it weird as they would all just sit at their instruments while he played. Nothing bad, I just found it weird. Even though the show filled up this was not a packed crowd, many missed out on a fantastic night of music and the chance to see groups of musicians having fun and creating passionate music. I would recommend catching J. Tillman at any small venue you have the chance to.

 

Carl Pocket
Big Wheel Music Scene Reporter

 

More photos of the show can be seen HERE

 
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