Belle and Sebastian

Last Friday we watched Belle and Sebastian playing at Falconer Salen at Frederiksberg. The night started at the nearby bodega "Cafe Endestationen" , one of the few pub-like places in Frederiksberg to enjoy a beer. It was somehow different then the typical bodega atmosphere, with non-smoking rooms and mixture of young people with regulars (The beer was cheap like other bodegas, 19kr for a bottle).

After having enough beers, we headed into the venue. The concert hall is inside the Radisson SAS hotel, therefore it is a strange feeling to pass from a fancy lobby while going into a concert like this. But the danes being so stylish, even at rock concerts, it somehow matches. On the other hand, considering the acoustics or the light, it is one of the best venues in Copenhagen.

As planned, we had missed the support, which was a Danish band. Then Belle and Sebastian got onto the stage, and it was the third song "Step Into My Office, Baby" that made me realize I was at their concert for real. Now that I check the setlist, it turns out that the first two songs were from their last album, which I hade listened to couple of times and enjoyed, but still I was not very into those songs.

Overall, I really enjoyed their performence. The vocals were as touching as if listening from your headphones, and you could feel that all the band members were really good musicians. I was familiar with most of the songs they played, but the highlights for me were "Step Into My Office", "I Want the World to Stop", "The Boy With the Arab Strap" (where some fans were invited to the stage and joined the band by dancing and clapping), and of course "Get Me Away from Here I'm Dying", which was the second song after the encore. 
My only disappointment was that they did not play "I am a Cuckoo" and "Dear Catastrophe Waitress" from the same named album, which I had listened lots of times at the time. 


At the end, the band's positive mood had passed to the audiance, and everybody left the concert with happy faces.


Setlist (taken from the useful webpage "setlist.fm"):

I Didn't See It Coming
Write About Love
Step Into My Office, Baby
The Model
I'm Not Living in the Real World
Piazza, New York Catcher
I Want the World to Stop
Lord Anthony
Sukie in the Graveyard
We Rule The School
(I Believe In) Travellin' Light
Dog On Wheels
Come On Sister
Dirty Dream Number Two
The Boy with the Arab Strap
If You Find Yourself Caught in Love
Judy and The Dream of Horses
Sleep the Clock Around

Encore:
This Is Just A Modern Rock Song
Get Me Away from Here, I'm Dying
The Blues Are Still Blue