The Magnetic Fields Tickets

fantastic show! best performance I've seen all year.

They showed up a half an hour after the preceding band had left the stage. Their set meandered, unallayed by any kind of onstage theatrics. Their internal conversations were mainly to settle disputes. In short, the show was a waste of time, and worse: it showed a band that I had previously liked in a negative light.

We were hoping they would do something special for the show...instead they sounded just like their albums. The sound was also really low and at times hard to hear.

show was tight. sound was amazing. i wish they had played a few more songs, but they did have good album variety. or, good for me anyway.

The Magnetic Fields are always worth seeing live. I've seen them quite a few times and I'm never disappointed. This show at the Beacon was a perfect example of what I like about them: warm, inviting, humorous songs about heartbreak and sadness. What is not to enjoy?

This Indie Pop group has not lost their touch. Their music holds up beautifully. Their sound is as tight as ever. Their lyrics contain the greatest [dark] humor, wit, and abstract imagery imaginable. Every memory of the group played an equal part in musical and vocal contributions. All lead singers did their songs justice. The transition from one song to another was very smooth, and comical. Overall, an evening well-spent; I would DEFINITELY love to see The Magnetic Fields live in concert again!

They were amazing. Can't wait to see them live again.

It was a great show! Go and see them in concert if you have the chance!

Awesome song selection aND PERFORMANCE. Amazing venue.

The band was great and the venue was really pretty! I had so much fun and would love to see them again sometime.

Stephin Merritt's disdain for his audience becomes tiresome and lame. This was my third and last time seeing them.

I have a deep and abiding love for the music of the Magnetic Fields. Their first album blew me away in 1993 and I've been listening ever since. Their concerts have gone way downhill recently - this last show was arguably the worst professional event we've been to. The music was half-hearted, everything was down tempo, Stephen was noticeably unhappy and there was no interesting banter. I sorry to say it, but I'd rather stay in and listen to their earlier albums on CD.

Honestly, I've seen the Magnetic Fields several times in concert, and even though they've never been what anyone would call enthusiastic live, at this show I felt a surprising sense of weariness/annoyance/aloofness that exceeded even their typical levels. There was minimal banter with themselves or the audience, they neglected to introduce the members including relatively new live addition Shirley Timms, and overall they seemed dismissive and not very happy to be there. The songs were still great and there were a few special moments among them, but the entire show made me hesitant to see the Magnetic Fields live again, despite my continuing love for the band and its music.

the sound was very clear, and they played a lot of the songs I was hoping to hear, but they were in such a bad mood. so grumpy.

I love Magnetic Fields. My ipod if filled with their music. I've seen them before at Birchmere in VA. However this performance at Town Hall was disappointing. Maybe it was the venue, maybe it was our seats (very last row in the center). But this was boring. I couldn't hear what little banter they had on stage. They played softly, and lulled me to sleep. Not sure I would spend money to see them at Town Hall again. But probably would check them out live at some other venue.

The Magnetic Fields are amazing musicians. Their songs are beautiful and sad and maudlin. They re-imagine them for their live performances and change the arrangements and choose different singers and it all works out excellently. Having said that, they really have horrible stage presence. They do talk to the crowd, but only as required. They announce each song before they play it, and they only play what they have, almost like they are reading a book. I know that most touring artists do this, but it would be nice if it didn't feel so scripted. The show was also arranged so that it was lively in the first section and fairly sullen near the end.

i've seen this band before in this very same venue. thing is aside from song content i essentially saw the same exact show. they all sit down. they are all playing ALL songs with those same 4 instruments even if the original song has drums and is rocking or is all electronic. you won't hear that here. a really superficial critique is I feel if I pay $40 for a ticket then maybe they could change into clothes that are a bit more worthy of my attention. i know it's superficial but they all looked as if they were hanging out practicing for the show they were gonna play while having lunch, but they were AT the show. The picture of the band for Ticketmaster has them looking pretty great compared to how they appear on stage. My friend said she liked "the thin guy" and said he looks like Charles Manson on crack. She agreed. Very thin and lookin for a fix.

Both Magnetic Fields and the warm freak brothers were totally dull and self indulgent. i thought the lyrics were kind of brilliant, but musically and vocally MF weren't very entertaining. Furthermore, the warmup band would have been interesting in 1961 as a proof of concept for electronic music. As it was, they looked like they were on the set of cheesy star trek, and all i wanted to do was leave the entire time. i actually did leave early after about 6 songs from the fields. i got my fill. even if everyone here says they loved it, everyone was talking and playing with their iphones, so i doubt it is true. MF is one of those bands i thought i was supposed to like because hip people like them.

They are almost like shamans. So deep and beautiful. I cried several times and feel like I have a soul connection to them. They have made me want to learn to love again. If you are in love or falling in love you couldn't pick a better band.

As someone who has seen the Magnetic Fields a few times, I'm not as totally stoked about this show as I have been about others. It's late in the tour, and the band was clearly a little tired, poor dears. Still, a couple of crabby zingers from Stephin ("Like I always say, who doesn't have a hammer?"), and a good variety of old and new tracks, plus some tracks from the 6ths, the Gothic Archies, Showtunes, Pieces of April, and a beautiful unreleased track, "When Will You Love Me Again?". They also played a track from the Wayward Bus and several from Charm of the Highway Strip. They have Shirley Simms with them on vocals and autoharp, so you get the authentic sound of her unearthly voice on tracks like "I'm Sorry I Love You" and "Always Already Gone." This band is a really different experience live--they play all acoustic, the exception for this show being a synth keyboard which they kept on the piano setting the whole time (when I saw them in SF, they had a real piano). Then there's Stephin on uke (last year's bouzouki is gone), and, as usual, Sam Davol on cello and John Woo on guitar. There are no wa-wa pedals, no electric effects of any kind, and no instrument switching, except that Claudia Gonson picks up a shaker a couple times. I saw a tambourine sitting behind Claudia, but I don't think she played it. I found myself appreciating the cello more than usual--in the acoustic setting, there are lots of songs where the cello really drives the story forward with great eloquence. Overall, it was a quiet, almost sleepy show, chamber-music style, with just a couple of lively breakout tunes. I feel that they intentionally steered clear of their "greatest hits" to play a wide variety of early, mid-period, and recent tunes, as well as obscure side-project pieces, which is rewarding to the hard-core fans in the audience, but could be off-putting to people who just like 69 Love Songs.