The Fiery Furnaces are better live than recorded. Yesterday evening's show at Webster Hall, the second time i've seen them, was also easily the best. The drummer in particular was incredible, and from the opening notes of "My Dog Was Lost But Now He's Found" helped bring to the live performance an energy sometimes elusive in the album versions of many of the songs off Blueberry Boat. For the most part, the band stuck to that, their recent, bizarre, fantastic concept album, with one or two exceptions - like one of the new songs off the upcoming album the Friedbergers recently recorded with their grandmother, who was, unfortunately, not present. Eleanor Friedberger is an incredible singer, and has a unique stage presence and powerful voice, even when singing in Inuit, or lyrics like "they had a dirty beanie baby so for good luck i bought her." "Quay Cur," even though Friedberger couldn't hit the "And now I'll never never never feel like i am safe again" refrain, was fantastic, as was "Blueberry Boat." The band's live show mixes and mashes the record's songs into new hybrid, interweaving forms, making audiences question the assumptions underlying the ways in which we hear and order the music.

Webster Hall's a weird venue. Just ask the bizarre naked minotaur reliefs on all the dance floor walls.

Hey! Is this Ben Greenberg who covered Wolf Eyes(!) the same guitar god who went to my high school? Cause if so that's fucking awesome.