Remember earlier this month when we told you that Beck would be spending his summer playing a series of shows to preview tracks from an as-yet-untitled upcoming acoustic record? Well, we’ve got one more date, courtesy of Stereogum, to insert into the mix. On July 4, while TMT’s US staff and readers will be spending the day celebrating AMERICA, Beck, known scientologist, will be across the pond yucking it up in jolly ol’ England playing the songs from his sheet-music-only ‘album’ Song Reader. Delivered to fans last year, all of whom flipped through it and arched an eyebrow like, “WTF,” will have their first, and at this point only, opportunity to hear Song Reader’s tracks played and sung by Beck himself.
Though, who knows — the London show has a bevy of mostly European guests already attached to it, so it’s possible the night might end up being some kind of Beck-hosted good time jamboree featuring a series of acts doing their best Beck impression, one after the other (think a lot of shamble-shuffles, almost-playing-a-harmonica movements, and too-short pants). Ed Harcourt and Dave Coulter, who can be seen here performing a track from Song Reader, will serve as the musical directors for the event, while Franz Ferdinand, Beth Orton, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Jarvis Cocker, among others, will be on hand to help bring Beck’s up-to-this-point Beck-less tunes to life. Let’s hope they all know how to read sheet music.
More special guests are yet to be named; there are 20 songs to Song Reader, so look for 20 special guests? In the meantime, a recap of Beck’s upcoming schedule is below.
05.19.13 - Santa Cruz, CA - Rio Theatre
05.20.13 - San Francisco, CA - Davies Symphony Hall
07.02.13 - Paris, France - Days Off Festival
07.04.13 – London, UK – Barbican &
07.27.13 - Wantagh, NY - Americanarama Festival *
07.28.13 - Newport, RI - Newport Folk Festival
07.30.13 - Portland, ME - State Theatre
08.02.13 - Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion ^
08.04.13 - Brooklyn, NY - Prospect Park Bandshell (Celebrate Brooklyn) ^
& Jarvis Cocker, Franz Ferdinand, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Beth Orton, Joan As Police Woman, Michael Kiwanuka, The Villagers’ Conor J. O’Brien, The Guillemots, The Staves, James Yorkston, The Pictish Trail
* Bob Dylan, Wilco, Ryan Bingham
^ Electric, not acoustic
• Beck: http://www.beck.com