From the outset, it was clear that this wouldn’t be your run-of-the-mill concert.
The setting was dinner formal, as the standing room floor of the intimate Chelsea venue Highline Ballroom was adorned with tightly-packed, candle-lit tables where concertgoers nibbled on savory-looking pastries while watching Eels front man Mark Oliver Everett’s (better known simply as “E”) BBC documentary about his relationship with his father, Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives, projected on a large white curtain masking the stage.
It was a fitting introduction to the evening, given the predominately older crowd, including several families with young children in tow. E’s songwriting is intensely personal, especially on most recent double-album Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, which concludes with the heartfelt ballad “Things the Grandchildren Should Know” (a favorite among older fans of the group).
“THIS IS A TRUE STORY” boomed in a Vader-like baritone over the loudspeakers, as the curtain was raised to reveal E.
E started thing off by playing a few acoustic ballads solo, including “3 Speed,” with its desperate plea of a chorus, “And why won’t you just tell me what’s goin’ on?”
He was soon joined by Jeffrey Lyster, better known as “The Chet,” who assumed various instrumental duties throughout the evening including guitar, mandolin, pedal steel, drums, and - yes - musical saw.
The Eels played a broad cross-section of their repertoire over the course of the evening, including big hits “Souljacker part I,” which sounds like a sleazy Nick Cave song with it’s menacing, low-register guitar line punctuated by E’s frequent yelps - the tune was recently featured in the Simon Pegg comedy Hot Fuzz - and their biggest hit, “Novocaine for the Soul,” where E sang and bashed the skins simultaneously.
(E and The Chet looked like they had just escaped from The Shawshank Redemption, sporting matching, faded-blue prison garb.)
But for the most part, the duo performed tracks off of their sophomore album Electro-Shock Blues - a record that, while not very well-received by fans at the time of its 1998 release, has gained cult status since, and is now lauded as their best to date.
Midway through the festivities, E proclaimed, “I get a lot of people asking me what it’s like to be the son of a genius physicist, and I say ‘Its okay.’ Then I get a lot of people asking me what it’s like to be a rock star and I say, ‘It’s pretty fucking great!’”
E then proceeded to read some of the hilarious fan mail he’s received recently to the crowd, as well as glowing reviews from the UK press of recent Eels shows (the Brits are Eels’ biggest fans).
This was followed by The Chet, who read a few excerpts from E’s self-proclaimed “bestselling autobiography” (entitled Things the Grandchildren Should Know), including a funny chance encounter with Angie Dickinson during E’s first trip to L.A., and concluding with a touching passage about his former landlord seeing an apparition of his sister just after her suicide, before effortlessly segueing into a pair of touching odes to E’s departed sis, including “Last Stop: This Town,” and “I Want to Protect You” (a downloadable single available exclusively at Eels’ electronic store).
Daisies of the Galaxy fan favorite “Flyswatter” saw E and Chet switching from drums to baby grand piano several times mid-song without losing a beat, followed by a truly awesome cover of Zeppelin’s “Good Times, Bad Times.”
The duo then took a bow, and received a standing ovation for several minutes before returning for not one - but two - encores, closing with Electro-Shock Blues ditty “P.S. You Rock My World,” with its optimistic closing line, “And maybe it’s time to live…”
On a night when there were several other high-profile concerts going down in the Big Apple, in addition to it being the Yankees opening day - rather, night - game, there was no place this spellbound audience would rather be.
--Marlow Stern [April 13, 2008]
