Beck at Madison Square Garden

Britt Daniel & Beck

Beck Hansen (born Bek Campbell, known professionally as Beck) was born into a colorful family in Los Angeles, California. His father is David Campbell, a Canadian-born arranger, composer and conductor who worked on hundreds of albums and numerous films, and his mother is Bibbe Hansen, a visual artist, performance artist, musician and actor in Andy Warhol's Factory in the 1960s. Beck began life in a rooming house near downtown Los Angeles, California. As a child, he was sent for a time to live in Kansas with his paternal grandparents and in Europe with his maternal grandfather, Al Hansen, a visual collage artist and a pioneer in the avant-garde Fluxus movement. Beck obtained his first guitar at 16 and became a Los Angeles-area street musician. At age 17, Beck spent hours in his room trying to emulate country-blues finger picking techniques. By age 18, Beck was playing acoustic blues and folk music in coffeehouses and briefly explored the anti-folk movement in New York City before returning to Los Angeles in 1991. His initial hit, "Loser," looked like it would make Beck a novelty one-hit wonder in 1994, but Beck sustained a string of hits and won five Grammy Awards. His 13th studio album, Colors, was released on October 13, 2017.

Headlining at Madison Square Garden for the first time tonight, Beck appeared to marvel at his ascent, particularly since he was largely homeless and playing for tips at small clubs like Sidewalk when he lived in New York City. Beck opened with well-known songs, "Devils Haircut" and "The New Pollution," and over the course of his 19-song set, he touched upon nine of his albums. These songs often injected clever wit and polished pop-art collages of many contemporary musical genres. While Beck's albums crossed many genres when they were first released, performed with a pumping band as a retrospective these once-eclectic songs were synchronized harmoniously in sound and feel. Beck's often extended chatter between songs also helped mitigate any abrupt changes in musical style. Midway through the set, Beck invited on stage Spoon vocalist Britt Daniel for two songs, and then opener Jenny Lewis joined Beck first for the rarely-performed "Girl Dreams" and returned for the encore. Beck closed his show with a 21-minute encore that wrapped his 1996 hit "Where It's At" around band introductions and  snippets of classics mostly by New York artists. Beck's light pop performance was a surprise-filled and pleasing synthesis for his long time fans.

Visit Beck at www.beck.com.

Setlist:

1. Devils Haircut
2. The New Pollution
3. Mixed Bizness
4. Up All Night
5. Wow
6. Qué Onda Güero
7. Think I'm in Love (I Feel Love interlude; Donna Summer cover)
8. l'm So Free
9. Dear Life (with Britt Daniel)
10. I Turn My Camera On (Spoon cover, with Britt Daniel)
11. Girl Dreams (with Jenny Lewis)
12. Lost Cause
13. Blue Moon
14. Dreams
15. Girl
16. Colors
17. Loser
18. E-Pro

Encore:

1. Where It's At
2. Can I Kick It (snippet; A Tribe Called Quest cover)
3. Good Times (snippet; Chic cover)
4. See No Evil (snippet; Television cover)
5. I'm Waiting for the Man (snippet; Velvet Underground cover)
6. Taking It to the Streets (snippet; The Doobie Brothers cover)
7. Once in a Lifetime (snippet; Talking Heads cover)
8. drums solo
9. One Foot in the Grave (with Jenny Lewis)
10. Where It's At (reprise, with Jenny Lewis)