La Sera Archives -

Johnny Hallyday, Beacon Theater, Oct. 7, 2012

Blake Mills, Terminal 5, New York, NY, Oct. 16, 2012

Fiona Apple, Terminal 5, New York, NY, 0ct. 16, 2012

Fiona Apple, Terminal 5, Oct. 16, 2012

Beast Patrol, The Studio at Webster Hall, October 19, 2012

Alex Greenwald and Z Berg, JJAMZ, The Studio at Webster Hall, Oct. 19, 2012

Alex Greenwald and Michael Runion, JJAMZ, The Studio at Webster Hall, Oct. 19, 2012

Sweatheart, Terminal 5, New York, NY, Oct. 22, 2012

The Dirty Pearls, Terminal 5, New York, NY, Oct. 22, 2012.

Justin Hawkins / The Darkness, Terminal 5, New York, NY, Oct. 22, 2012

Jeffertitti’s Nile w/ Father John Misty, Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY, Oct. 24, 2012

Katy Goodman, La Sera, Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY, Oct. 24, 2012

Father John Misty, w/ Jeffertitti, Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY, Oct. 24, 2012

Lindi Ortega, Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY, Oct. 26, 2012

Mike Ness, Social Distortion, Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY, Oct. 26, 2012

Apparently I didn’t go to any shows in November, either.

Sheena Ozzella, Lemuria, Webster Hall, New York, NY, Dec. 2, 2012

Ceremony and stage diver going in to the pit, Webster Hall, New York, NY, Dec. 2, 2012

Titus Andronicus, Webster Hall, New York, NY, Dec. 2, 2012

Animal Collective, Terminal 5, Dec. 5, 2012

Casey Neill, 68 Jay Street Bar, Brooklyn, NY, Dec. 8, 2012

A small fraction – there are nine of them! – of Industries of the Blind, Knitting Factory, Brooklyn, NY, Dec. 21, 2012

My post-show summary of Jeffertitti’s Nile was that they were loud and swirly, but pretty, and on reflection I think that sums them up pretty well. Their songs were almost entirely instrumental, and, were, well, psychadelic kaledeiscopes of notes. And yes, that is Father John Misty you see perched behind their drums; he was sitting in with them for the tour.

The second opener was La Sera. They started out kind of sweet and twee and then somewhere around song two or three abruptly kicked into gear, sprouted some harder edges and jumped several notches on my approval matrix. They also got bonus points for a partial cover / interpolation of an Elvis Presley song, because there really should be more punk/rockabilly Elvis covers.

And then Father John Misty (J. Tillman) re-appeared, having apparently briefly decamped to Tom Petty Fest and found it wanting. Here’s what I’m going to tell you about his set: what you hear on the record is what you hear live.

He did some jazz-hands and a lot of shimmy-shake and hit all of those notes in achingly beautiful style, with occasional breaks for snarking on the Tom Petty Fest and other miscellaneous rambling. It was obnoxious and beautiful and hilarious and I can’t wait to do it again at Webster Hall when he comes back in January.

Other notes: Jeffertitti Moon returned the sitting-in favor and played guitar during Tillman’s set.