Talk about a shocker! Elvis Perkins live is anything but boring? Even though I love the kid, I was expecting to fall asleep in my pasta at his Largo show this past Saturday. The opener didn’t help things. Probably the worst performance I’ve ever seen. Or one of the worst at least. The only thing keeping my attention was the guy playing the “water harmonica” aka glasses half full played by rubbing your finger along the edge aka a slightly more trained version of a 7 year old at a wedding reception.

After the horror that was Gwendolyn, it was time for Elvis, complete with new faux hawk hairdo, to take the stage. It’s like he knew what I was thinking… the first two were mellow like the album, but still enjoyable. It seems he wanted to prove me wrong by teasing my expectations and then completely shattering them. He brought the band (Dearland) up for the third song and they added SO much energy to the music. The fourth song of the set even prompted the drum player to strap on one of those marching band type drums and hop around like he was on crack… in a good way. They turned “All The Night Without Love” into a latin flavored rumba number. Who knew? Of course they closed the set with the single. I had hoped they would perform it like they did on Letterman, with each band member joining the stage as their part came in… and they did not disappoint. Here’s the Letterman performance to aid your imagination:

Elvis Perkins - While You Were Sleeping (mp3)

If you have a chance to catch Elvis Perkins In Dearland, I highly recommend it. You will not fall asleep Here are the remaining tour dates:

Opening for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!:
Tue 09/25/07 San Francisco, CA The Independent
Wed 09/26/07 San Francisco, CA The Independent
Fri 09/28/07 Portland, OR Roseland Theater
Sat 09/29/07 Seattle, WA Neumo’s
Sun 09/30/07 Seattle, WA Neumo’s
Thu 10/04/07 Minneapolis, MN Fine Line Music Cafe
Fri 10/05/07 Minneapolis, MN The 400 Bar
Sat 10/06/07 Madison, WI The Annex

Headlining Dates:
Sun 10/07/07 Chicago, IL Lakeshore Theater
Tue 10/09/07 Ann Arbor, MI Blind Pig
Wed 11/28/07 Toronto, ON Horseshoe Tavern
Thu 11/29/07 Montreal, QC Le National
Fri 11/30/07 South Burlington, VT Higher Ground
Sat 12/01/07 Providence, RI AS220
Sun 12/02/07 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club / Lounge
Mon 12/03/07 Northampton, MA Iron Horse Music Hall
Wed 12/05/07 Vienna, VA Jammin’ Java
Thu 12/06/07 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s
Fri 12/07/07 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom

And just so you can get an idea of the boisterousness… Here is a video from a show back in May of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! (or an unknown band if you will) playing with the guys. They did this same thing at the show on Saturday (with about the same audience reaction at the end, even though Largo only holds about 3.5 people):