SARAH AVAMPATO
freelance writer & photographer
OTHER MEDIA
I have been involved in online media since 2008, when I launched my music blog, How's My Living? I provided reviews of concerts and newly released albums and published regular calendars and news of music-related events in Chicago.
In 2012, I joined the writing staff at The Best Books Ever, a YA-focused book review blog. I regularly review books of all genres, write promotional posts for authors and publishers, and conduct interviews with established and up-and-coming authors.
I am also a former contributor to Along the Boards, covering the CWHL.
Since 2011, I have hosted a weekly live in-studio radio show at CHIRPRadio.org focusing on independent and local music. I have also written for the station's blog, reviewing and photographing various music festivals and live events.
All photographs below were taken by me.
Concert Review: Andrew Bird, Auditorium Theatre
(Originally published March 15, 2012)
Andrew Bird took the stage on Saturday night to a packed Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, after a rousing set by local punk rock marching band Mucca Pazza. There’s always something special about seeing Bird back in Chicago, on home turf, even if he hasn’t reliably called Chicago proper home in some time now. There’s a different comfort level — this is his place with his people, which can be both anxiety-provoking and exhilarating at the same time. Bird has talked in the past about how he is often more nervous in front of a hometown crowd, but if that’s still true, it wasn’t evident at all as he confidently weaved his way through a nearly two-hour set.
[...] in all the times that I’ve seen him, I’ve never seen him quite so relaxed and at ease with the audience as he was at this show. Perhaps, for once, he wasn’t ill. Perhaps it’s the nice weather. Perhaps it’s just that life is finally going Bird’s way, after years and years of grueling hard work. Perhaps it’s because the tour’s over — Chicago was the last stop on this leg. Whatever it is, it’s working for him, because this show was nearly flawless. (I wondered, back in March, what it would be like to see a show where he was at or near 100% — this might have been it.) He was in top form, with strong voice and clear whistle, and it sounded to me like he was doing some new, interesting things with harmonies (both vocally and on violin) throughout the show.
[...]
The actual, physical performance of the new songs still seems to be settling in with Bird. It’s not that they’re lacking confidence, but they’re missing the … ease of theatricality? that comes so easily to older songs. I never got to see songs like “Tables and Chairs” and “Fake Palindromes” when they were new to the set, but I imagine that once upon a time, they were a bit stiff, less fluid than they are now. Those songs are performances, full-body music, magic. The newest songs aren’t there yet, but they will be, and I can’t wait to see it.