Magnetic Fields, unplugged, are Electric.

The evening prior to [insert snow pun] of 2010, I joined three of my dearests for a show by my absolute favorite band: The Magnetic Fields.  Almost a year prior--to the day--I sat in the same seats in Lisner Auditorium watching the fivesome support Distortion.  This go-around they supported the second installment in their "no-synth" triology, Realism.

Highs and Lows: Lows first.  A gaping hole in the set where my favorite songs should've been.  I celebrate the entire canon but come on, throw me a bone--I'm there to see a relatively obscure band already, can't you just play me everyone's favorite love song, once?  Highs: Sound was incredible, turned me on to a handful of MF songs that I'd never heard (My Acoustic Guitar, Lindy-Lou) and re-ignited my love for All the Umbrellas in London and I Don't Want to Get Over You.

My scorecard is a little low because I don't like to reward artistic arrogance, though if anyone deserves to have it, it's Stephin Merritt and his merry men and women.  

1.Lindy-Lou (The 6ths cover)
2.You Must Be Out of Your Mind
3.The One You Really Love
4.Interlude Play Video
5.You and Me and The Moon
6.Better Things
7.Falling In Love With The Wolfboy
8.I Don't Want to Get Over You
9.I'm Sorry I Love You
10.Acoustic Guitar
11.The Nun's Litany
12.I Don't Know What To Say
13.Night Falls Like A Grand Piano
14.Falling Out Of Love With You


Encore:
15.Kiss Me Like You Mean It
16.We Are Having A Hootenanny
17.All the Umbrellas in London
18.Wi' Nae Wee Bairn Ye'll Me Beget
19.The Dolls' Tea Party
20.I Don't Really Love You Anymore
21.Walk a Lonely Road
22.Always Already Gone
23.Movies In My Head
24.Fear of Trains
25.Summer Lies
26.From a Sinking Boat 


Encore 2:
27.I'm Tongue-Tied
28.100,000 Fireflies