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We saw a wonderful concert last night at the Cedar Cultural Center, Psapp, Juana Molina and José González.

This was my first time at seeing a concert at the Cedar, and I was quite impressed. I am one who enjoys the slightly slower speed of sitting down on a chair, and listening to a concert without getting jostled about. The sound, as advertised, was excellent.

Psapp was up first, and I think you could say they gave new meaning to the word eclectic. Between songs they were throwing little stuffed kittens into the crowd. During the songs they tapped away at toy guitars, little horns, and other strange toys. It was a fun time though, and the crowd was clearly into it.

Juana Molina came on next. I’m not sure the crowd new what to make of her at first. The way that she performs is very interesting. She played alone, but with the aid of a few keyboards and some very intense looping equipment. Each song builds into a quiet fury as she adds layer after layer. It took me a minute before the song would gel but once it built, it was very entertaining. She was also quite funny on stange, delivering some very strange interludes about the english language, cat and dog noises, etc.

Then finally José González took the stage. I was very impressed by his music from the very first listen, but I remember saying, I wish it were longer! As he performed his songs, there was little break between, and no introduction or information about them. A tad dissapointing because I want more, but the songs themselves were wonderful. At the end of the first set, there was a beautiful surprise when he covered TearDrop by Massive Attack. This is a haunting electronic song, and at first I didn’t recognize it. But the goosebumps were running up and down my arms when I spontaneously started singing along. The crowd gave a rousing applause as he left the stage. He came back for a short encore, which was greatly appreciated. I’m looking forward to hearing more from him in the future!