Revenge of the Book Eaters @ Beacon Theatre 8/23

Last night I was lucky enough to have a ticket to the Revenge of the Book Eaters show at the Beacon Theatre. Not only were we lucky to have a lineup with Jon Stewart, Sufjan Stevens, David Byrne, and more, but we were also able to contribute to Dave Eggers 826 organization.

Unaware that when a Beacon Theatre ticket says 8pm it means 8pm, my friends and I missed the beginning of Jon Stewart! It was a depressing moment as the rest of his reading thing was hysterical. Luckily though, that would be the only down moment in the show.

It's tough to sum up a show like this because it's all over the place. I'll start with the non-music performers. John Hodgman was our host for the evening and he had a guitarist with him that would play a theme song for each non-musical guest. Very funny guy that John Hodgman, as fans of the Daily Show must already know. Dave Eggers talked to us about his organization and showed a little video about it (I was a little distraught he didn't do a reading for us). Sarah Vowell was witty with her reading about her favorite explorer, who was played by Eric Bogosian (is that how you spell it?). But really it was all about the music, though it was basically funny person, music, funny person, music, etc.

The music got started with a short three song set by John Roderick of The Long Winters. I can't say that I'm familiar with the band (I know I'm a poor excuse for a blogger) but his set was pretty good. His voice is powerful and he can certainly strum an acoustic guitar. I think I may have to give his band a look now.

Sufjan Stevens was up next. Although he only did a five song set it was still his usual brilliance (so glad I bought a ticket to see him do a full set in September). The set began with "The Mistress Witch from McClure", followed by "Jacksonville", "Chicago", "Csimir Pulaski Day", and "The Dress Looks Nice on You" dedicated to the teacher that taught him to write. The sound in the auditorium was excellent and his whispered voice came across clearly and powerfully. In short it was an excellent, brief set.

The final act was David Byrne who decided to do a country set. He then played three or four country covers and two Talking Heads songs that fit in right along with the country set. I've never seen David Byrne perform before, so just to see that was exciting! I have to admit I was kind of hoping for more Talking Heads stuff but it was cool that he strayed from the expected and still had everyone talking after the show. The last song he played (another older country tune) he brought Sufjan out for and it was amazing to see the stark contrast in the two singers voices. Simply put, Sufjan couldn't even try to compete with David Byrne's powerful voice.

It was an excellent night out and they actually managed to take in an extra $15,000 in donations on top of whatever the show brought in for the organization. I'm still kind of wishing I went to see the Shins for half the price though, I mean I am going to be seeing Sufjan next month anyway. Whatever, it was fun and i sa David Byrne perform!