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Widely acclaimed on release and almost certain to be in critics’ Top 10 lists at the end of the year, Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest is one of the most ambitious albums this year to enjoy a flirtation with the mainstream, doing well in the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. Following last week's show with the London Symphony Orchestra, the cavernous cathedral provided a perfect setting for the live reimagining of songs old and new.
Standing in a row on a makeshift stage in front of the choir stalls, Grizzly Bear's four members supplemented the traditional band format with a variety of instruments. Chris Taylor and Ed Droste added flute and autoharp respectively to 'Lullabye', a set highlight from 2006's Yellow House, and each member's vocals complemented the others. Taylor's falsetto at the close of old favourite 'Knife' and Droste's tenor on 'Two Weeks' stood out, whilst Daniel Rossen's distinctive lead vocal on the florid opener 'Southern Point' got the night off to a perfect start.
Even without the youth choir and string quartet present on Veckatimest, the band's characteristic guitar and keyboard effects made for an impressively accurate reproduction of the album's memorable sound. The gig's gothic setting introduced another element into the unique Grizzly Bear sound; the awesome reverberation gave the impression that their music was made for the vast space of the cathedral. The evening's ambience was completed by the addition of atmospheric lighting from a series of suspended white light bulbs fading in and out sequentially against the stone backdrop.
Between tracks, the crowd were more quietly reverent than they might have been in another venue, but the band were warm, especially later in the night when they jokily thanked their audience for not skipping their gig in favour of the Backstreet Boys show at the nearby MEN Arena. Before leaving the stage, they expressed hope that there would be more gigs there in future. If any other band can rise to the challenge of creating an atmosphere half as memorable as Grizzly Bear's, it will be unmissable; such a feat, however, would be much harder to achieve than you might think.
And what about St Vincent as support? She was amazing. I saw this gig the next day at Leeds Met - both acts were phenomenal.
By all accounts St Vincent was impressive too - I saw her with her band at Latitude, where songs like 'Marrow', with its sax breakdown, came across so powerfully. Here, the way she deviated from the album arrangements to produce something so weirdly different was exciting most of the way, but I didn't quite *get* the new sound on a couple of the songs (shamefully, I forget which now).
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