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Cibo Matto Live - June 1999 |
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By: W. Dire Wolff Additional
reporting by: Shelley Wong and Two Autonomous Fans |
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This review is an overview of the Cibo Matto concerts that took place between June 8th to July 3rd in 1999. On the US release date of their new album Stereotype A, Cibo Matto and their special guests played from June 8th to 12th in New York City's Bowery Ballroom. The band then traveled to Alpine Valley in Wisconsin to open the 1999 Tibetan Freedom Concert (Chicago) with a short and dynamic set. Cibo Matto hit the west coast and played a string of shows in California. The band continued north along the left coast to play in Oregon and the state of Washington. Next up on the menu was two hot shows in Europe. Despite the fact that Stereotype A was completely unfamiliar to many of the fans at the shows, the concerts were well received.
Not by design, perhaps just by their nature, a Cibo Matto concert follows the formula of a full course dinner party. The guests arrive at the banquet hall and find their places. Perhaps they wait for the other guests to arrive by exchanging conversation while enjoying refreshing beverages. Or perhaps they sit listening to their stomachs growl in silent anticipation. Regardless they all have to wait for the final surge of the fashionably late to join the party. Some of the guests can be seen tapping their fingers on their watch glass and mumbling, 'They're late...they're late."
Before dinner entertainment and cocktails are served none to soon to the hungry guests. Some of the shows featured vintage elixirs provided in the form of performances by Yoko Ono, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, Dusty Trails (an offshoot of Luscious Jackson), and other special guests. While others poured from jugs of hot, hard cider of new experimental bands such Imperial Teen or perhaps some renown DJ is causally spinning discs in the corner. The guests drink and toast to their hosts, but perhaps even the finest hors d'oeuvres are not enough to quiet the grumbling of their musical hunger.
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The time required to clean away the hors d'oeuvres plates and cocktail glasses seems more than an uncomfortable pause. The guests watch as the servers carefully make the final table preparations in the banquet hall. "Why?" some of the guests ask themselves, "must they be so precise in setting out the silverware?" Yet at last the hall has been prepared and dinner is at long last ready to be served.
On the June 1999 leg of Cibo Matto's Stereotype A release tour the appetizer was often served in the form of Miho's easy flowing rap on part one of Sunday. The guests are perhaps caught a bit off guard by a course of a subtle soup or salad portion of Sunday Part two. The hall is quiet as Miho sings the slow haunting waltz. Still eating quietly the guests take in the sophisticated rhythms of numbers such as Spoon, King of Silence, and Flowers. These more complex musical pieces are enjoyed by the audiences, often they found themselves swaying gently as the course of sauce covered fish is consumed. Perhaps the sophisticated rhythms make for difficult dancing in the tight quarters of sold out shows. Instead of completely embracing all of the earlier courses, some of the guests attention seems to still be focused forward in anticipation of the still yet to be revealed main course.
The ingredients of a Cibo Matto concert are carefully prepared before hand. Yet the nature of the seasoning of the food is subject to change from night to night. Although some guests see some of the slower or more complex material as vegetables that must be consumed before dessert will be served. The true gourmets realize that some of the true magic of Cibo Matto comes to light in this portion of the show. Subtle differences in a song's presentation and experimentation with new fills and vocal phrasing on the numbers can be seen as the delicious aroma of the the band's cooking. Since the band is five people listening and cooperating musically together, there isn't the focus on a solitary guitar messiah or horn solo to carry the music. Instead, Cibo Matto is more about pulsing forward as a single groove unit. Therefore the nature of their improvisation can at times be transparent to the listener. Yet this is where the band's special spices are tested on the guests palates.
Along the way some of the guests may get the feeling that the dinner party has been transported to an oceanside portal on the planet Venus. High Tech samples and techno percussion effects phase in and out of the mix. Miho is swaying and moving her hands as if performing some type of science fictional hula ritual. Yet quickly the lunar landscape falls away into a driving Latin beat. The guests look cautiously around to see if anyone else noticed the space detour or was it ....
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The subdued nature of some of guests seems to vanish after the band brings a cup of sorbet to refresh their palate. The band lightens up this portion of the meal with perhaps a bit fun with hot little tidbits of "Sci Fi Wasabi" or a Futuristic pop number such as "Working for Vacation". Don't expect any notice at the time everything breaks into the main course. I hope you like your steak rare, because you'll have to pick yours about of the stampede. The guests find the band is serving the headlights of the "Blue Train" on a silver platter. This is where the guests take a keen interest in the entree. A tribal dance might break out as the crowd bounces to the deep punk groove. Sean and Timo come alive in Blue Train as it cultivates their heavy metal roots. If the moment catches him, Sean starts jumping across the stage as he digs into his bass lines. In the final course of the main meal more heavy numbers such as "Birthday Cake" and "Beef Jerky" are sometimes piled on the table (but why not save something for Dessert?).
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Typical
Set List for June 1999 Shows
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Sunday - Part one Sunday - Part two Flowers Spoon Sugar Water The Candy Man Speechless King of Silence Working for Vacation Blue Train Beef Jerky Encore Moonchild Sci Fi Wasabi Know your Chicken Birthday Cake |
The dinner dishes are quickly removed and the lighting is softened. The band returns to serve an encore of dessert. The band might begin with their new R n' B number, "Moonchild", or break directly into a more rowdy number such as, "I know your Chicken". The band unleashed many combinations of the hard stuff during a night's encore set. Here is where the band is jamming in reckless abandon. The guests are out of their seats and dancing on top of the tables. Timo takes off on the drum kit. Miho and Duma rat-a-tat rapping like a couple of smoking irons. Yuka washing over Sean's manic bass explosions with rolling chords and tasty little solos. Caught up in the final fury, the guests are lost in rapture. Then all to soon are obliged to leave wanting just a little bit more.
As Cibo Matto pulled the Stereotype A numbers from the CD and took them out on the road, sometimes the band was seen experimenting with their live presentation. On a given night a song could be played as if directly from the studio mix or it might be distorted and shaped like a piece of clay. Due to the live maturity of the older songs, unique combinations of fills and passages have already evolved in various configurations. When the groove isn't apparent they can fall back on an assortment of familiar arrangements for the older songs. This luxury does not exist for the newer songs that are still being worked out and tested on the audiences. This means the band is currently taking bigger chances which may result ina few awkward moments that can be rewarded with taking the music to new heights. And to a large degree this summer's audiences' response to the songs will serve to set the standard shades and tones of the Stereotype A material's live presentation in the future.
The tour of 1999, also serves to clearly demonstrate that the band is moving forward as a five piece band. The addition of Sean Lennon on bass, Timo Ellis on drums, and the vocals and percussion support of Duma Love has become essential to Cibo Matto's live performance. Yuka Honda and Miho have grown beyond being a two woman show. During the production of Stereotype A they worked together with the rest of the band to build a more full and rich sound for Cibo Matto. The vocal harmonies that evolve from Sean and Timo locking with Miho can be incredible to behold. Duma and Miho's rap duets are some of the most dynamic portions of the Cibo Matto live. Of course anyone who has seen Sean playing bass on a good night, will never forget the high energy of his musical and stage performance. Yuka's masterful use of the keyboard and other equipment brings all the pieces together into a lush layered soundscape. Having traveled to their current point of origin, Cibo Matto cannot return back the way from which they came. What's next?
Cibo
Matto - Live at the Roskilde Festival 1999
Return
to Tour Info Page
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- by:
W. Dire Wolff
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- by:
W. Dire Wolff
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the Official Cibo Matto Web Site |
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