30 words or less: Concerts can be entertaining, energetic and personal, but it is a rare that you see one which is revealing. Feist’s concert at the Greek Theatre was such an event.

Feist Set list:

Intro: The Wagoner’s Lad (American Folk Song)
When I Was a Young Girl
Mushaboom
My Moon My Man
The Limit to Your Love
I Feel it All
Honey Honey
Who Could Love You More than Me? (new song)
Intuition
How My Heart Behaves
1234
Past in Present
Gatekeeper
Inside and Out
Sea Lion Woman
The Water
Phantoms
Let it Die

Notes:

>> I get there at 6:00 and there is already a line, but tickets are not yet sold out. Apparently Apple has not infiltrated everyone’s conscious.

>> It’s difficult to judge who’s in the audience as I first walk in. Feist is no longer an “indie” act in the classical sense on the word–being on an iTunes commercial kind of eliminates you from that category. There is a good chance that the audience will be a mix of die-hard fans and people who are just curious. This isn’t Bottom of the Hill, where the people are mostly enthusiasts of the act. This is the big time.

>> As opening acts go, the Toronto-based Golden Dogs are hardly electrifying but not bad. Their opening song “Gelsomina” reminds me of Velvet Underground for some reason–perhaps because the build-up in the song is roughly similar to “Heroin.” The best part of their act was their cover of Sir Paul McCartney’s “Nineteen Hundred Eighty-Five,” which featured an apocalyptic guitar solo that McCartney could only dream of pulling off at the age of 65.

>> After the Golden Dogs are done, I return to pondering about Feist’s opener. Every concert, I guess the artist’s opener. Every concert, I get it wrong. This time, I guess “Past in Present”–I reason that it’s up-tempo and will draw the crowd in. The people around me throw other suggestion like “Sea Lion Woman” and “My Moon My Man.” All of them seem plausible.

>> Feist comes on stage waving a lantern around. She opens with an old American folk song called “The Wagoner’s Lad,” sung a capella. Who could have seen that coming? That makes me 0/7 in guessing artists’ openers.

>> The first song of her own that she plays is “When I Was a Young Girl” from Let it Die. The choice seems strange to me. It’s a great song, but I just expected her to start with something off of her new album. She follows it with “Mushaboom,” another cut on Let it Die before finally touching on The Reminder with “My Moon My Man.” I am a huge fan of Let it Die, so I’m not complaining, especially since I get the sense that this concert will touch on all parts of her catalog. I wonder if we will see anything from Monarch though.

>> Throughout the night, Feist is very extravagant and, as she later describes it, “theatrical.” In addition to demonstrating that she is a bona fide rock guitarist, she also uses a hand motions and other physicality during the songs. She also improvises a number of lines throughout the concert, including ones about Alcatraz (which might have been due to a genuine line gaffe) and iPods. Sure, it’s not suitable for a live album, but in a concert experience, it’s priceless.

>> Feist is a fan of providing stories behind songs. She describes “Honey Honey” as a mariner’s tale that could have been your grandmother and grandfather’s. “Grandma had it hard,” she says at the end of the song.

>> She plays a new song (or at least one that I have not heard and cannot find) called “Who Could Love You More Than Me?” Maybe a song for her next album?

>> It is amazing how much control Feist has over her voice. It seems like she can go any direction with the melismas and hold them for however long she wants to. It is very impresive.

>> Rivaled only by “I Feel it All,” “1234″ is the definite fan favorite. It also contains the invaluable iPod moment. She improvises a number of lines, and it feels more natural that way. After all, you can’t really recreate a song so famous in a concert situation without it sounding trite, so I’m glad that she allows the audience to experience the song in context.

>> As it gets later in the night, Feist notes the curfew and says that the band is adjusting to it. She performs a light, slow version of “Inside and Out,” which is great even though I lament the exclusion of that essential riff in the chorus. However, “Sea Lion Woman,” is fairly loud. So much for the curfew.

>> After leaving the stage, she returns for a three-song encore consisting of “The Water,” “Phantoms,” and “Let it Die.” “Let it Die” strikes me as a somber way to end the exciting night, but it’s such a great song that no one seems to care.

>> One last note: In between songs in the concert, this fan came to the center of the pit below the stage and spoke to Feist about playing on stage right instead of in the center. Feist seemed amused, especially during the encore when she noted that “Talky girl isn’t so talky anymore.” The fan annoyed a lot of people, but it was an interesting moment, one that revealed Feist’s small-club indie nature and mixed it with a large amphitheater.

>> I’ll have more insight into the concert in my article, which comes out this Thursday. Look for it in The Daily Californian or online at dailycal.org.

- Raj Srinivasan

Image source: LoStateMinor