"Well, I heard you had the blues again. Seems like all those little things add up in the end. Well, I know that you heard a lot about things you can't control. So many things we like to have, we just cannot hold. You gotta be kind to yourself. You gotta be kind to yourself. You gotta be kind to yourself. You gotta be kind to yourself." ~she & him

photo by sam jones

So I saw She & Him last night at Terminal 5 (an intimate venue that I love). They were amazing. It was just such a fun show. I love their music. I love how it sounds like nothing else being made today. I love Zooey's voice. And Matt's voice. And Matt's guitar. I'm just full of love for this band. They really are amazing. Zooey and Matt are very different; she's bubbly and energetic and he's soulful and quiet. Together, though, they compliment each other perfectly. And their feelings about music are the same.

Zooey is adorable. Here's the official video for "In the Sun" as proof (it really seems to show both of their personalities). I love Matt's obliviousness and I love watching Zooey walk down the hall at the end. It's just so cute:


When she's onstage, Zooey plays a bunch of different instruments (a toy piano, a tambourine, and a ukulele). She also jumps around a lot. Seriously, she just jumps up and down and she's so full of energy that you want to do the same. It's just adorable. Her stage banter is also adorable. Last night she had major problems with her Wurlitzer. Here are some choice quotes from her (all in the recording below):

"I've got a problem with the Wurlitzer. Middle C is totally not in tune. Um...maybe I'll play this song up here, how about that? (begins the song in a really high octave) You know what, maybe let's try down here. It's really bad. It sounds jazzy. It sounds like I'm playing a major 7. Are you okay with major 7? Here we go then." (before "Home")

"Is there a Wurlitzer tuner in the house?" (before "Over It Over Again")

"I've got a problem with my piano. It makes it sound like a little jazz man is living inside. Because it's kind of like...never mind, I'll stop complaining." (before "You Really Got a Hold On Me")

"So let's start again. I just have to figure out where...I have to figure out where I can play this that it won't sound crazy absurd. It's kind of an essential, like, Middle C is kind of an essential, like, note. It's, like, kind of I'm like being faced with, like, a sort of...an issue. I mean, this is an A...okay, it's fine actually. Maybe it'll be okay." (before Don't Look Back")

Despite all Zooey's tuning problems, everything sounded fabulous. Unfortunately there were no cameras allowed. People took pictures anyway (Zooey gave a hilarious lesson on how to turn off your camera's flash), but I was near a security guard (I was very close to the front on Matt's side of the stage) so I couldn't really get away with it. The security guards were very intense, which seemed unnecessary considering it was She & Him, an indie folk rock band with pretty mellow fans. This was the best I could do while hiding my camera:
Zooey wasn't the only one with technical difficulties. I recorded the show with my video camera because I thought I would be allowed to take video. I wasn't allowed, so I just kept it in my pocket and used it to record audio. At the beginning and end of most songs, there's annoying static. It's my fault but I couldn't really avoid it. Most songs are okay, though; "Rave On!" is the only one that really suffered during the middle of the song. I had some really obnoxious people on one side of me who talked through much of the concert. I always hate that. And on the other side of me I had a girl who loved to "whoooo!" constantly. But I don't think any other tapers were there, so I suppose this recording is better than nothing.

"You Really Got a Hold On Me" is my favorite song of theirs, so I was really glad they played it. "Sentimental Heart" is my other fave and they played that one as well. From the new album, "In the Sun" and "Thieves" are my favorites, and they played both of those. I was really happy with the setlist.

Gege, I'm trying a new file host, so if you read this please let me know if you can hear the songs.

Get Your Own Player!

BrooklynVegan has a review of the concert with great pictures.

I'm now ready for a Zooey Deschanel movie marathon. I think I'll start with Almost Famous, my favorite movie ever, and they maybe I'll move on to 500 Days of Summer, because it's really good and Denise reminded me of it yesterday.

Scroll down for my 4th of July post/picspam if you missed it.

Ooh, I'm adding something. Because I love this song so much and I want to share it. During the Terminal 5 concert, there were some songs where the band left the stage and it was just She & Him. This song was one of them (obviously this video isn't from the show I went to, but it's the same situation). I loved those moments. All the She & Him MTVCanada videos are great.