It can’t be easy to formulate the lineup of popular artists at Tanglewood. This esteemed music venue in the Berkshires is, after all, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and thus carries a high-falutin reputation, despite offering many events in its summer programming that appeal to a broad swath of tastes, including John Williams’ Film Night, Tanglewood on Parade, and the perennially sold-out appearances of James Taylor.
Tanglewood’s selection of popular artists has run the gamut, from nostalgia acts like the Beach Boys; Earth, Wind & Fire; and this year’s visit from Kool & the Gang, to more contemporary artists such as Jon Batiste and Brandi Carlile — who played Tanglewood this June — to an upcoming triple bill of Judy Collins, Indigo Girls, and Rufus Wainwright on August 30, to Train, a pop band that had a several-year run. Over the years, I’ve seen Wilco (before they decamped to nearby MASS MoCA, where they present their biannual Solid Sound Festival), Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, and various other acts on this vaunted stage.
Looking back in the archives to the late 1960s, when Tanglewood first opened its stage to rock bands, I was stunned to learn that the biggest names of the time came to play in the Berkshires, including Jefferson Airplane, The Who, Jethro Tull, The Association, Chicago, and a young singer-songwriter named Joni Mitchell.
As the years went by, management made an effort to attract more “quiescent crowds,” cutting back on rock artists and booking mellower bands or older musicians who may have mellowed over time. Such was the case for Elvis Costello, who last summer played a rather muted show compared to his raucous youth, but not for the recent rip-roaring rock show by the Pretenders, though it seemed the Tanglewood audience was much more quiescent than frontwoman Chrissie Hynde expected.
Beck’s appearance at Tanglewood on July 23 struck the perfect balance. He’s not a barnburner, but he can rock out, no doubt. The key to this show managing to appeal to Beck fans as well as the Tanglewood demographic was Beck’s backing band: the Boston Pops. It proved to be a great combination, thanks in part to Beck’s father, David Campbell, a composer, conductor, and arranger who has helped out with classical elements on several of his son’s albums that incorporate string sections. Campbell pitched in on the arrangements for Beck’s current tour, which is making stops across the country with other top-notch orchestras, including dates at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, at Wolf Trap with the National Symphony Orchestra, and at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
Affable and gracious, Beck seemed genuinely pleased to be at Tanglewood, where he has visited but never performed. The Pops kicked off the evening with the brief, string-based instrumental Cycle from Morning Phase (2014), and Beck strolled on stage strumming his guitar, neatly segueing into the ebb and flow rhythms of The Golden Age from Sea Change (2002), before turning to acknowledge the orchestra and guest conductor Edwin Outwater, stating with obvious appreciation, “This is my new band,” and noting that with this exceptional accompaniment, “We’re going to dig into the songs we don’t get to play too often live.”
Beck was comfortable playing in front of an orchestra — he’s done this type of gig before — and while the strings nicely supported the songs, the brass could occasionally sound a little cheesy, notably at the end of the third number, Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime, a 1980 song by James Warren of the Korgis that Beck covered for the soundtrack of the 2004 movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. More successful, to my ear at least, was his rendition of Tarantula, a gorgeous song from This Mortal Coil that he recorded for the soundtrack of the 2018 Oscar-winning film, Roma.
Looking a bit like Bob Dylan with his mop-top hair and gaunt physique, Beck casually engaged with the audience, explaining that he was up late at the airport since Delta had lost his luggage. “I had to borrow these shoes,” he said. I’m pretty sure the reflective gold sunglasses, which he wore and doffed throughout the evening, were his own. After noting what an honor it was to be at Tanglewood, he said, “I’m jealous of the picnicking out there.” He kept things casual, only occasionally taking on rock star affectations with something of a tongue-in-cheek demeanor.
Beck proved gracious onstage, thanking his father for the arrangement of Missing, from the 2005 album Guero. The Brazilian influence was more pronounced in Tropicalia, from the 1998 album Mutations, perfect for the sultry summer evening, and an excellent deployment of the brass section. Beck recounted that the first concert he attended was Jobim, and gave a shout out to his mother, avant-garde artist Bibbe Hansen (who was in the audience), for introducing him to Brazilian music at an early age. The evening demonstrated Beck’s broad intellectual and musical appetites, with wide-ranging influences on display, including Scott Walker — represented by covers of two songs, It’s Raining Today and Montague Terrace — whose work he discovered on a record he found in Japan, and melancholic French singer-songwriter Françoise Hardy (who died last month), whom he called one of his favorite singers, and whose style so clearly inspired We Live Again that she called him out on it after they appeared together on a television show. His omnivorous tastes have led him to create a vast catalog of music that defies categorization.
Many of the songs were lulling, lilting, dreamlike, etherial, not typical crowd pleasers but definitely pleasant on a hot summer night in the country, especially with the support of the orchestra. Beck, switching off between acoustic and electric guitar (and no guitar), did say we’d be hearing deep cuts. The orchestra came on strong in the intense, Bowie-esque, bass-heavy Paper Tiger from Sea Change, and proved it could rock with the retro tune The New Pollution from Beck’s 1996 album Odelay. When Beck’s keyboardist Roger Joseph Manning Jr. — embedded in the orchestra with his fellow bandmates, guitarist Jason Falkner and drummer Joey Waronker — played those unmistakable notes that lead to one of Beck’s biggest hits, Where It’s At, the orchestra really let loose, and so did the audience, dancing, singing, and clapping along.
After that… the Pops left the stage. Beck graciously thanked the the orchestra, the audience, the kids whose parents dragged them to the show, and his band — a lineup he called his A-team, the musicians with whom he made Sea Change, the first album for which he enlisted an orchestra. Telling the audience he was going to stick around for a little while, Beck did a bit of schtick, wandering around the empty seats to the back of the stage, joking that he felt so alone (“Where’s my orchestra?”), bemoaning the fact that no one left any mallets behind for him to bang the gong, before taking out his harmonica to play the Delta-bluesy One Foot in the Grave, engaging in some call and response with the crowd, making his way downstage and taking a violinist’s seat. “It’s still warm,” he exclaimed.
The band kicked in for the fuzzy rocker Devil’s Haircut from Odelay, the infectious dance tune Mixed Bizness from Midnite Vultures (1999), and the grand finale, Loser, Beck’s first and biggest hit, from 1993. This was the song everyone had been waiting for, and it capped a sublime evening of music in which Beck demonstrated his range and generosity, proving himself a personable performer able to engage even those in the audience unfamiliar with his rich repertoire from the past 30 years.
Pairing a pop band with the Pops at Tanglewood seems to be a thing this summer. Back in June, Phish founder Trey Anastasio played with the Pops, and on August 31, the Pops returns to accompany Boston-based roots band Dispatch. If this is a new strategy for Tanglewood, there are a few bands I think would nicely thread this particular needle — attracting a large fanbase that hasn’t been exposed to the venue and would not be predisposed to tearing it up, while making beautiful music together with the Pops. Not that they need my suggestions, but off the top of my head I’d recommend Sufjian Stevens, Sigur Ros, Sarah McLachlan, Kate Bush (if saying it could even make it happen), and maybe that no-longer-young singer-songwriter from decades past — Joni Mitchell — who has incorporated orchestral arrangements in her recordings and has accompanied Brandi Carlile in a few appearances in recent years. Oh, and bring Beck back to the Berkshires. He could easily become a new perennial favorite if James Taylor is willing to share that role after 50 years at Tanglewood. I’m pretty sure Beck would accept the invitation. After all, noting the summer heat, he did say, “Next time I’ll wear shorts.”
Tanglewood Music Festival runs through August 31 in Lenox, Massachusetts.
Splash Magazines
Be the first to comment