It was a night of firsts for both the Oranges Band and A.C. Newman, with new bands and albums waiting in the wings. The Baltimore-based Oranges showed off a steely fresh sound with the addition of ex-Guided By Voices/Cobra Verde guitarist Doug Gillard, while ex-Spoon bassist and frontman Roman Kuebler exercised a perfect amount of control with dense, classic vocals and spastic high kicks. The senior Mr. Kuebler (Roman's pa) made a brief appearance to plug the Oranges Band's new record, simply titled Are Invisible. A band this hard-working onstage and on record deserve to be quite visible, in fact. The Oranges treated us with the jangly new track "Artstar," as well as standout tunes "My Street" from 2003's All Around and "The World and Everything in It" from 2005's album of the same title. Post-show, Kuebler assured me that the Oranges are going on tour in February for Are Invisible's official release.
New Pornographers frontman A.C. (Carl) Newman took the stage for his first solo show in years, backed by a specially assembled band, including Nicole Atkins on vocals/percussion and whole gang of bells & whistles. We were treated to equal parts The Slow Wonder (2004) and Get Guilty (out January 20), transforming the Bell House into an ornate holding cell of starved, ecstatic A.C. Newman fans. Opening with new single "There Are Maybe Ten or Twelve," Newman quickly proved that a complicated, ambitious song on record can indeed translate to a gorgeous live mélange of sound. We also heard more upbeat, typical Newman fare like "Miracle Drug" and "Seven Ways to Stockholm," interspersed with brand new songs. Unified whistling and drum-tight vocal harmonies abounded -- a set catchy as all get-out. Newman's first encore consisted of The Go-Betweens' "Loves Goes On," reportedly rejected by Starbucks for their Valentine's Day compilation. Wild applause inspired him to wrap it up with The New Pornographers' "The Fake Headlines" -- no other solo songs were prepared. Bonus!
A.C. Newman setlist: