Weekly Hornet

Issue date: 10/17/07 Section: Entertainment

A never ending line of people; young, old, poncho covered hippies, scene kids and polo-shirted businessmen alike, weaved their way around the dilapidated blocks of Los Angeles' old theatre district on Saturday evening, all of whom were anxious to welcome Devendra Banhart to his homecoming party, at the antiquated Orpheum Theatre, after a three month tour of Europe and the United States.

After a thankfully brief, and entirely terrible performance from opening band, if they deserve such a title, Hecuba, Devendra Banhart took the stage at around ten thirty in the evening. Seated in a pair of blood red Victorian chairs Banhart and his fellow guitarist Noah Georgeson began the performance with several of Banhart's lulling and beautiful acoustic pieces. The atmosphere was surreal, the sold-out 2,000-person audience was dead silent for the first three songs as Goergeson and Banhart gently strummed away singing in tender harmony with the rest of the band.

The festivities began as Banhart introduced actor Gael Garcia Banal, who joined the group to perform "Quedate Luna," a peaceful Spanish number about a man who attempts to woo the moon into being his lover. The thus far introspective audience burst into applause as Garcia Banal left the stage promptly after his mesmerizing vocal display.

The show continued with a few more seated numbers, it was quite surprising to see how tame Banhart's fans appeared to be; aside from the polite applause they were essentially quiet.

This trend quickly changed as Banhart's band, now working under the title of
"Spiritual Bonerz," released their wild, unkempt manes from their various hats and hair ties and transitioned into electric numbers.

So began the jam section of the show which was filled with more then adequate chops from all of the players involved, especially Andy Cabic, a guitarist, better known for his work in the band Vetiver. Banhart and his "Spiritual Bonerz," even broke into the wonderfully hard hitting Vetiver tune "You May Be Blue," a highlight for both the audience as well as Cabic, who exclaimed his thanks for the enthusiastic applause which followed, several times, with a humble thank you accompanied by a beaming grin.

After "You May Be Blue," Banhart immediately broke into a feature from his new album "Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon," entitled "Seahorse". The tune was met with a thunderous yell of approval from the audience, who, at long last, burst from their seats and began furiously dancing.

Continued...

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