Yesterday afternoon Feist played a four song session at Mississippi Studios in Portland for around 60 people who had contributed to KNRK's "My Perfect Playlist" in October.
With Feist's "Are you ready to rumble?" to her four-piece band, they launched into "My Moon, My Man" from her new album The Reminder. I was impressed at how the band could be plugged in and not be completely blowing us out of our seats. While it sounded fine to me, Feist signaled that she would go back and re-record the song again later in the session. Next up was "1234," which seems destined to be attached to all sorts of commercials. I'll hate the song later but for the session it still had its sweetness and light.
The third song of the session was my favorite, a song called "Inside and Out" from her 2005 album Let it Die. The song was totally stripped down and laid so much meaning on the lyrics. Talking with Feist after the session I was even more impressed with the song, considering the album version has a 70s Disco feel.
The banter with the audience through the show was easy and light, though most of the band members seemed as if they had social anxiety. At one point someone from the audience yelled "Hey, what about that Paul Simon song!" and the band as if on queue broke into Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al." Weird. And then they broke off and started into their final song, a ballad which I didn't catch the name.
The only other thing I can say is Feist is tiny. I could tell while she was on stage that her guitar was almost as big as she was, then meeting her in person, wow. Again, even more impressed that a woman that looks like she could fly off in a breeze can hold such a strong presence on stage and have such command over her band and the songs they were pumping out.