As part of the Grand Opening for McMenamin’s new Crystal Hotel in downtown Portland, M. Ward played a three-day series of shows at the Crystal Ballroom, each day with different openers. The Corin Tucker band opened on Tuesday, David Bazan opened on Wednesday, and on Thursday, the day I attended, Built to Spill frontman Doug Martsch took the opening slot.
On the clear night, people slowly crowded into the upstairs ballroom with its bouncy floors and cherub designs that lined the walls. The crowd for Doug Martsch’s set was surprisingly small, but his acoustic songs of an often-melancholy and sometimes-morbid were quite enjoyable. “5 on 3,” a song about a five-year-old on three hits of acid was one that stuck out as particularly “wtf,” as it was upbeat in melody – a song that you wanted to dance to.
After Martsch’s set, M. Ward took the stage with his band, and the room filled up quite a bit more.
Ward’s sultry swagger translated tremendously on stage – he’s low-key but also full of attitude. That plus his retro blues rock feel made for a wondering Thursday night in downtown Portland.
He started out with “Poison Cup,” “4 Hours,” and “Poor Boy,” and then my favorite – his cover of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance.” I almost like it more than the original version. Nothing against David Bowie, but Ward’s version is so much sexier.
For the next hour and a half, Ward played through twenty more songs from his repertoire, including one that someone requested that wasn’t originally on his set list.
My favorite part of the evening came during the latter half of the set. Ward’s guitar went out completely in the middle of a song, and as he and his roadies began to try and get the plugs working again, Ward just went over to the piano and played his guitar solo on the piano. It was a perfectly improvisational and sincere moment, which made the crowd go wild.
One thing’s for sure, because Ward doesn’t tour much outside of She & Him, and he rarely gives interviews, it was nice to see him in his element surrounded by hometown love.
SET LIST
1. Poison Cup
2. 4 Hours
3. Poor Boy
4. Let’s Dance
5. Never had nobody
6. To save me
7. Rave on
8. Howlin’
9. Post-war
10. Roller coaster
11. Paul’s song
12. Chinese translation
13. Requiem
14. Sad Sad
15. Right in the head
16. Whole lotta losing
17. Helicopter
18. Big boat
Encore no. 1
1. Fahey
2. Walking the floor over you
3. To go home
Encore No. 2
1. Beethoven
