Cover illustration from Three Vassar Girls in Russia and Turkey by Elizabeth W. Champney, 1889
When you live in one of the fly-overest of fly-over states, you take what you can get when it comes to good concerts. When I found out that Glasgow's Camera Obscura was playing here for the first time in ten years of touring, I bought tickets right away even though (a) Tuesday night is tough one for concert-going with my work schedule, and (b) I'm not a big fan of the Urban Lounge as a venue. I'm glad I did, too - it was a really good show.
The opening band was Agent Ribbons from Sacramento, a three-woman cabaret-pop ensemble. Sounding a lot like Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis singing Dresden Dolls covers in the style of - well - Camera Obscura, actually, they played a nice warm-up set, but unfortunately they were playing to a "We want the headliner!" crowd. I'd like to see them again under different circumstances. It was fairly late when Camera Obscura finally took the stage, and I was starting to worry that we would get short-changed in the setlist department. It turned out, though, that I had no reason to worry.
When front-woman Tracyanne Campbell took the stage with her band, she had a very stern, almost glowering look on her face. I was sure at first that she was in a sour mood, but the band sounded great from the start and the crowd was very responsive, so I'm pretty sure that she just takes her performances very seriously. Throughout the set, she was focused on the songs, and I caught her giving little reproving looks to band-members when things didn't sound quite right. The result was a high-energy set with a great sound mix that matched or improved on the arrangements from the records, and Campbell's voice was in excellent form. Her vocals really stood out because they were not boltered by heavy backing vocals, overdubs, or multi-tracking as they usually are on the records, but they sounded great and crystal-clear.
The band played just about every song I'd want to hear at a Camera Obscura show, sticking mostly with uptempo numbers and including all the big hits. I was slightly disappointed when they skipped two of the songs on the written setlist that I wanted to hear ("Suspended from Class" and the rarely-played "Books Written for Girls") to appease on obnoxious audience-member's constant request for, "Lloyd Cole!" but I admit that I'm glad they played "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken" - it sounded great live. By the time they came back out for an encore, I was wondering what they'd do because they hadn't really held back any of the hits for the end of the show. They ended up playing the somber "Come Back Margaret" and closing with "Razzle Dazzle Rose", which turned into a full-band freakout with a single trumpet melody holding everything together as it rose to a crescendo of noise. The encore was all gravy after the stellar main set, so it was cool to see them having some fun with it.
My Maudlin Career/Swans/Honey in the Sun/Tears for Affairs/Teenager/Let's Get Out of the Country/Eighties Fan/French Navy/James/Away With Murder/Sweetest Thing/Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken/If Looks Could Kill (Encore) Come Back Margaret/Razzle Dazzle Rose.
By the end of the show, the Urban Lounge was a sauna - I'm pretty sure the venue was well past its legal capacity of 299 people, and the ventilation/AC was not really cooling things off. Nevertheless, Tracyanne Campbell promised that they wouldn't wait another ten years to visit again. I hope she stays true to her word.
"Eighties Fan" by Camera Obscura
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