San Francisco gets down with the Bird and the Bee

February 9, 2009, at the Independent

By Camille Ikalina Robles
Published: February 12th, 2009 | 11:05am

Let’s face it: The Bird and the Bee are irresistibly cute. With matching plastic dresses, synchronized dance moves, and costumes reminiscent of 1960s go-go girl fashion, the performance was as whimsical as the band’s name suggests. All this served as fitting visual background to singer-bassist Inara George (the bird) and multi-instrumentalist Greg Kurstin’s (the bee) dancey indie pop, which kept the San Francisco crowd at the sold-out Independent dancing and singing all night long.

For this performance, George and Kurstin had special guests Alex Lilly (keytar) and Wendy Wang (bass/guitar) on double duty for the evening, as theirband Obi Best opened the show. Familiar tunes “My Love,” “Again & Again,” and “Fucking Boyfriend” started off the show, as the ladies brought them to life with choreographed dance moves and synchronized hand claps. After George described her childhood fascination with a certain Van Halen rocker, the band launched into the David Lee Roth tribute song “Diamond Dave,” a track from their recent release, Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future (Blue Note).

A very enthusiastic fan kept yelling out his love for the singer, which George accepted with grace and a coy smile. And when George noticed a familiar scent in the air, she laughed and told the crowd, “When you smell that, you know you’re in San Francisco!” She went on to give fans a little insight into her experiences. “I wish I could smoke some, but it makes me so uncomfortable,” she said with an honesty that was both funny and endearing, as the crowd erupted in giggles. “It seems like so much fun … but not for me!”

By mixing the drums through his laptop, Kurstin created a heavier, bass-driven sound for “Man,” a song off of the Please Clap Your Hands EP (Blue Note). Kurstin’s talents also were most notable in the sweetly melodic “Birthday” and synth-ful “Love Letter to Japan,” which came to life with the backing harmony vocals of Lilly and Wang. The energetic track left George somewhat breathless after she showed the crowd her dance moves, which forced her to ask the audience, “How the hell does Beyoncé do that all the time?”

The Bird and the Bee closed their set with the humorous “Polite Dance Song” — which features lyrics like “I try to be as coy as I can / But I wanna see your naughty bit” — and the crowd-pleasing sing-a-long cover of Hall and Oates’ “I Can’t Go For That.” For the encore, Kurstin simply played the piano while George sweetly crooned the words to the Bee Gees’ song “How Deep Is Your Love.” Keeping the attention of their fans with danceable, funny tunes, charming tales, and an energy-driven performance, the Bird and the Bee turned a chilly night into a dance party, so much so that no one remembered that they were ever cold at all.

For more photos from this show visit Venus Zine’s Flickr page.

Bird and the Bee feature
Inara George feature