Pete Yorn / 11-5-09 / Electric Factory "You-logy"

I went to Pete Yorn's show in Philly last night to see Alberta Cross open. I had hoped a Game 7 in the World Series would provide the perfect excuse to leave after the first band, but since Matsui went apeshit on the Phillies Wednesday night, I decided to stick around for Yorn and his band, and I'm glad I did.

There were several firsts for me last night. Not only could I breathe in the Electric Factory for once, but the venue was wall-to-wall women. I've never seen the ladies outnumber the men at any rock concert, if you can call it that. It was glorious. Also, there were tambourine solos. Multiple.

The Alberta Cross set was short, but fantastic. Yorn took a smokey stage around ten and got right to it, opening with "Can't Hear Anyone", which I thought was ironic, because the audience had finally shut up for the first time all evening. He said hello then ran through "Shotgun" and a "Life on a Chain" that really got the crowd going. A cover of New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" brought a smirk to my face. But then a strange thing happened, I found myself enjoying it. From the back of the stage emerged a sweaty guy wielding a tambourine, gyrating and performing a solo/general freakout worthy of the drunkest uncle. Covering 80's new wave with acoustic guitars and a heartbroken voice tilt is almost as cool as wolf shirts and jorts. I congratulate Yorn on pulling it off.

"Blackie's Dead", from Yorn's collaboration album The Break Up with Scarlett Johansson, came next, before acoustic versions of "June" and "The Man", the latter being one of the night's true highlights. Yorn then handed over some of the vocal duties to the crowd for a genuinely great "Murray" that left me pleased with my decision to stay. After "Closet", which could easily be about a serial killer if sung by someone more threatening, the band dipped back into the Break Up catalog with "Search Your Heart", one of the album's best, and the haunting "Someday". He ended with "Strange Condition", which has definitely stood out as one of his better tunes over the years, and served as a fitting wrap on the solid 16-song set. Everything is better with harmonica.

Amidst howls of worship and drunken stupidity, the band returned with "Social Development Dance", whose lyric "When you boyfriend called, you were pressed against the wall" brings me deep, evil joy. Oh yes. Then came "Crystal Village", the real reason I was waiting around. Such a great tune, and it was executed flawlessly from the stage. The band actually let go and pushed this one a bit further than the record. Sweaty tambourine guy was all over this one, too. After the dust settled, Yorn offered the first verse of Springsteen's "Hungry Heart" as an intro to his own "Don't Wanna Cry", before closing the festivities with "For Nancy (Cos It Already Is)".

Yes, every song was about you and mine and my only friend and sweetest love. Mostly you, possibly every song. In some ways, it was a rhythmic nightmare. The poet in me found myself completing lyrics to songs I'd never heard before. BUT, its easy to see why Pete Yorn has such a vast an adoring fanbase. His songwriting is simple, but fantastically listenable. I'd certainly see him again, for the women.

Breaking Time with ALBERTA CROSS

There are few bands still breathing that would make me park my car where I did tonight (Laugh amongst yourselves.). I landed in Center City with five minutes to spare before Alberta Cross played their last show in the US for who-knows-how-long. I ran.... ...into a half-full Electric Factory? Baffling. The upstairs was completely closed. No champagne bar? No Emily from the Phoenix show?

The howl was quite healing, as Alberta Cross sucker-punched my confusion back into reverie with "Leave Us or Forgive Us". I wish I could be nonchalant about it, I wish I could be objective, but no. I love this band, and to see them was a treat. "Taking Control" spat out next, while unknowing indie drones filtered in wearing shoes I'm sure would have retrieved a laugh from me had "Ramblin Home" not been so good on stage. The tightest jeans I owned looked like collegiate sweats in this crowd. I could smile to myself. "Is that a woman singing?" a misdirected cougar asked behind me. After a genuine double take, I said 'Yes' and pointed towards the door.

Rarely in the set did any member of the band make eye contact. Instead it was Petter Ericson Stakee who led a mostly silent symphony from the front. No orders were barked out, no fingers pointed. Stakee spun with a skinny balance that would make Chris Robinson hungry, waving his tambourine and with the slightest blink bringing the band full circle.

Dedicating to Pete Yorn, the band leaped face first into "Broken Side of Time", the title track from their new album, stunning a few Yorn-know-nothings into attention with it's thick English beat-down balladry. This song, if any, announces the intention of this band. It's as revealing as it is raw, as powerful as anything that was to come of the stage all night. "We're gonna try a gospel song now" offered Ericson, before the band switched positions, entering Moog and mixer, but leaving the a capella lead-off to Ericson himself, introducing a fantastic "Rise From The Shadows" . The biblical spook hung perfectly in the room as the haunting coos from the mic mixed sublimely with Terry Wolfer's fuzzy progressive bass lines and finite piano drops, leading to temptation? No, back to claps and serenade, letting his bandmates take that all important breath, exhaling, when you know that you've won.

The London-transplants finished with "APX", the new single, and shockingly, it was the best song of the night. There was a fresh urgency and pain to the performance, a band on the verge ready to lie in the bed they've made.

Alberta Cross heads back to the UK on Saturday, and I doubt they will open for anyone the next time they jump the pond. Safe Travels, thieves.