everybody is happy, they are glad that they came

[kerpingtack]

AND HOW!!!! BELLE AND SEBASTIAN AT BERKELEY!!!!!!!

Oh god, it was SO FUN. So joyful! So good!! I LOVE STUART. TEN TONS OF CHARM. ahhhlakjdfs;l all my high school passion for my high school-favorite band!!!!

Here is my jumbled up set list (bc I don't remember what songs went when, except for the first four and the last four lol). edit @ 150413: corrections made with the correct setlist! My frand and I got most of it right, anyway kekeke:

Nobody's Empire
I'm A Cuckoo
Stuart says hi, "fuck Coachella. this is... folkchella"
The Party Line
Stuart talks abt Giants & national anthem - intro to next song~ "our own anthem"
Stars of Track and Field
Stuart says something abt the people in the risers? idr
Dirty Dream Number Two
If She Wants Me
Stuart intros Stevie; near the end of the song they go into a little patter/banter~
Perfect Couples
"Thank you, Stevie, for that morality tale." Stuart comments on what his friend, who's a drummer, would say abt his bongo skills - "'what the hell is he doing up there? he's all over the place.' but it's fun to try things(?)'" intro to next song~ "another cautionary tale. (audience member yells) 'Fox in the Snow'? that's not really a cautionary tale... it's more of a.. foxy tale. about a small creature." 
Lord Anthony
Electronic Renaissance
Stuart intros Sarah~ & plays the keytar
The Power of Three
intro to next song~ "we have to play all our San Francisco songs." real Sukie went to North Beach art school. doing better now, "she was quite emaciated then."
Sukie in the Graveyard
Women's Realm
intro to next song~ "we're going to play a short song, then a long song. they're from the same album"
Simple Things
invites people on stage to dance!!
The Boy with the Arab Strap
invites people to stay on stage - "we'll do one more song!"
Legal Man
Sleep the Clock Around

encore
Piazza, New York Catcher
Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie

It was just SO FUN. They were just effortlessly good, Stuart's voice sounded great, the harmonies were beautiful, and Sarah sounded fucking INCREDIBLE in Power of Three. I forgot just how charming Stuart was - he is so charismatic, I felt my heart climbing out of my chest from pure love for him. idk how to express myself anymore except by repeating everything over and over, SOMETIMES IN CAPS. IT WAS SO FUN. It was just a great SHOW.

BULLET POINTS!!!!!!!! 

- The stage was full from the beginning - there was the orchestra members (trumpet, viola, two violins, a cello somewhere?), four risers full of people, one ~choreographer~, and the band themselves. When the people first filed into the risers, I thought they were the choir for Nobody's Empire, but Stuart explained after the third(?) song: "As I'm sure you have noticed, we have some friends up here with us. Not that we aren't all friends... but they're just the first fifty people who responded to our facebook message." They were there to dance during the songs (with the cutest and best choreography omfg. I hope there are videos bc the moves were all so fun and exactly in my cheeseball wheelhouse lol), and basically be human props (like during Stars of Track and Field, they raised lightsticks in rows as the chorus built up, they blew bubbles during Power of Three, blew balloons during Simple Things, etc)
- I can't overemphasize how charming Stuart is. I FORGOT. HOW COULD I FORGET??? All the little (paraphrased) quotes I'm jotting down DO NOT CAPTURE HOW ENDEARING HE IS. AND HIS DANCING IS MY FAVORITE DANCING. This is NO JOKE. I cannot fucking believe I forgot about how legit wonderful his dancing is!!! SO SMOOTHLY FLAILY, JOY WRIT ACROSS EVERY MOVEMENT. He skates around the stage like a beautiful, limber, whirling dream from the eighties. Also, he never ages. He's looked the same for like twenty years. I LOVE HIMMMMM
- All the songs from the new album sounded amazeballs, especially The Party Line (SO INCREDIBLY FUN - Stuart sounded perfect, and the effect of all the people on the risers dancing with the projected video was ace).
- Which reminds me - they used the screen/recordings so well. I loooooved the video for Perfect Couples, though that was almost a bad thing since I wanted to watch the band play lol. It reminded me of Playtime, the Jacques Tati movie, or some other cool, highly choreographed... thing. I arm articulate. I loved the one for Electronic Renaissance too. I didn't legit like the one for Power of Three, but it fit the ambience of the song really well.
- Speaking of (again): The main reason I wanted to watch the band during Perfect Couples was Stuart on the bongos. He was so fucking cute, I wanted to cry. He looked like a Spongebob character. I LOVE HIM
- One more thing about the Power of Three - I love every single thing about this song, and the performance, except the lyrics. Oh my god. They're just emphatically... not good. I try really hard to block out the words whenever I listen to it but it's hard.
- THERE CAN NEVER BE ENOUGH STEVIE & STUART BANTER. Their little skit near the end of Perfect Couples was tres amusant. Now that's a perfect couple! Hahaha! /is shot
- The girl who danced during Sukie in the Graveyard was hot. Was that actually Sukie? Probably not?? edit @ 150413: it was Sukie! And she did have an A-1 body with a face to match. I thought of that on my own looking at her like the pervert I am, okay ;;
- At one point, the video recording of the girl narrator came on without sound. Stuart, after looking at the screen: "I don't know what she's saying. I don't know who that is, and I didn't invite her."
- Stuart was equally enthusiastic about jamming on the keytar as he was on the bongos. I LOVE HIMMMMM
- They played a lot of my favorite songs that I wasn't expecting them to play - like, when Stuart said they would play a short song, my first thought was Simple Things but I dismissed it immediately bc they like never play that in concert. But it was!! And they played Electronic Renaissance, and Legal Man! And Piazza, New York Catcher ;~~;
- God I love Women's Realm. No other comment.
- There were a lot of times where I could not find who was making the noise on that damn stage. Like it took me fucking FOREVER to find where the trumpet player was, and during one song I totally lost track of Stevie. It also took me a very long time to see who was doing the spoken monologue thing during Dirty Dream lol.
- They played Lord Anthony in the Hollywood Bowl concert I went to in 2006 (!!) theatrically then, and it's gotten even more elaborate lol. Four of the dudes from the risers played the part of Stu-thony's bullies, complete with a soccer ball that they almost immediately kicked into the crowd lol. They picked Stu-thony up, then later got their comeuppance as Stu-thony beat them up with boxing punches and high kicks lol. Stu-thony also slunk behind the piano to put on a dress (which was very funny to hear via his interrupted singing when he struggled to get it on lol). One of the people from the risers came down to apply mascara too. So camp lol.
- There was like a 70-30 split onstage when Stuart invited people up to dance during Boy with the Arab Strap. The vast majority people were on the left side of the stage (including a little girl on top of her dad's shoulders :'3); literally only four people were on the right, and even then, two of them got pulled over to the left side. Stuart was on piano for that song and between lines, he hurriedly said, "switch sides, guys!" What a great dad;;;;; Near the end, he told everyone to come in to the middle, too, and after the last dance at Legal Man, as the peons were filing down the ramp to return to their spots, he was like, "Be careful when -" but he was interrupted by a couple of people who wanted to shake his hand and hug him. Of course, that turned into like nine different people who wanted to hug him too lol; he couldn't move more than one step at a time without getting another person to hug. He was so sweet ;;;;;;; I LOVE HIMMMMM
- Near the end, talking about how the people in the risers should meet them backstage again: "to dine on wine(?) and... Ferrero Rochers... as is the custom for Belle and Sebastian riders. [pause] Just kidding, it's Ritz crackers and Sprite." oh god I'm gonna die if there aren't fifty different, lovingly detailed fan accounts from all the people who were there as;kldfjaks;ldf
- Stuart wanted to jump down from the stage into the crowd for Piazza, but "wow, that's quite a drop." He struggled for a bit to figure out how to get over and eventually just dropped down and climbed back on the barricade railing (which, I saw after the concert, was very thin). Everyone standing reached up to help him balance and he carefully walked the length of the stage on the railing over the course of the song, stopping for a couple of verses stage left and stage right. A few security members were scrambling around in the background to help take his mic, untangle him, support him and make sure he didn't fall off and crack his head open, etc lol. I - I love him. I DO.
- He said Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie was the first song he wrote for Belle & Sebastian! I did not know that.
- idk what else. ahhh it was just SO FUNNNN and joyful and I love this band, and the music, and Stuuuuuarttttttt ;;;;;;; I'm so happy I went!!