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Beck displayed his vast musical talent at the Patriot Center last week Date published: 10/13/2005
By EMILY GILMORE My love for Beck was renewed last week, when I saw the devastatingly hip Renaissance man perform at the Patriot Center in Fairfax. Beginning with "Black Tambourine" from his latest CD, "Guero," which was released this year, Beck and his posse played selections from his entire career to a fervent audience that occupied only about half the arena. Backed by as many as seven other musicians at one time, Beck confidently cruised through several new songs, while hits like "Devil's Haircut," "Loser," "Where It's At" and "Sexx Laws" inspired the crowd to giddy hysteria. Beck kept banter to a minimum, but he still interacted with the audience whether he stood still behind a microphone and an electric guitar, pounded the drums, meandered around the stage rattling off rhymes or scratched on the turntables. And then in the midst of the strong beats, the electronic reverberation and the pulsating images projected on the backdrop, Beck revealed an equal talent for simplicity on the acoustic "Guess I'm Doing Fine," "Golden Age" and "Lost Cause." With an exceptionally pretty singing voice, Beck can pull off the wistful songs just as well as the rowdier ones, and he doesn't need a band behind him to pack a punch. Still, Beck didn't let the mellow interludes last long. For every twangy slide-guitar intro, there was an up-tempo full-band number to follow. Beck's fellow musicians were plenty competent on traditional instruments, but several of the crew outdid themselves as they sat at a table that was set for a meal and provided percussion for several numbers by banging on the dishes with the silverware. It's one thing to hear these songs on the neat packages that are Beck's albums, but it was quite another to experience so many sides of his music at once. Beck never missed a beat as he negotiated the diverse elements of his creativity. To reach EMILY GILMORE:
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
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