Magnetic Zeros!!!

I’m still coming down off of the high from the Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros concert!! Even a day at school couldn’t entirely quash my good vibe! What an amazing show!!

It started out with some interesting opening acts. There was a really good banjo player and even a mime (the 70’s return!), but the best was definitely the Los Angeles Women’s Choir. They looked great & sang some really beautiful and simple songs, ending with Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. It’s hard to mess up that song too much, but it was a really special version with all of the beautiful voices!

Finally, the Magnetic Zeros came on, and got things going right away with “Coming Up from Below”. They had a lot of energy, but it was kind of angsty at first. Em thought that it might be because some people were not too kind to the mime (who also happened to be the father of one of the band members). Whatever the case, Alex Ebert seemed a little uptight at the beginning and made some pointed comments to the audience. Fortunately, I think that we eventually convinced him of our good will, and he definitely loosened up (to put it mildly) before too long. It’s funny, because Alex mostly comes off like a peace and love hippie, but you can kind of see the dark side as well – not unlike The Dead in a way.

This goes to show one thing that is great about this band though. It’s completely the opposite of a polished rock and roll machine and you kind of get the feeling that any number of things could happen. Either the gig could get just end at any time, or you could have the time of your life! Luckily whatever weirdness was there at the start faded away, and it was just an amazing show!!

It’s soooooo fun to jump up and down with someone you love and complete strangers, and one great thing about this band is that they are obviously having as much fun as the audience!!! People come and go on stage, playing different instruments, and everyone is dancing as much as possible with instruments strapped on! The one exception is a grumpy looking guitar player, but the contrast only makes it even more enjoyable : )

Special mention goes to the main woman singer, Jade, who sings part of the lead on “Home”. She has the greatest energy (Em said that she’s one of the sweetest looking people she’s ever seen!), and she obviously has a lot to do with keeping Alex in a good space. After an over-zealous fan jumped on stage and crashed into the amps, the crowd started booing and Alex looked like he was going to hit him, but Jade simply said, “No boo” with a lovely smile, and everybody started cheering, and the fan got a hug instead (although he was still escorted off of the stage).

The crowning moment of the show, though, was the last song, "Om Nashi Me", which is good on the album, but becomes an incredible, cathartic song on stage! After getting the crowd pretty wild, Alex jumped into the audience and really partied with those of us lucky enough to be in front!! For a while, he and I were arm in arm doing a crazy Can Can dance!!! But then it got even better – a couple of fans went on stage (not an unusual occurrence at this gig), and after Alex went back up and gave them the mic, the guy proposed to his girl friend! But the really ridiculously amazing thing, is that this all happened while the song was still going strong! The band just came down a little for the proposal, and then the crowd went crazy, and they slammed right back into the song!!! It was really one of the most amazing musical things that I’ve ever seen!

After playing a new song that they were still kind of making up, they ended with a beautiful version of “Brother”, and the grumpy guitar player even cracked a sweet smile! What a wonderful night!!!