Of the two Becks on stage, it was hard to say which was the more entertaining. In the end though, the real Beck — 36-year-old, boyishly handsome musical maverick — probably pipped the pretend one, an astonishingly lifelike puppet, around 30in tall, in the same outfit as the singer and able to play guitar.
Avid fans of Beck Hanson, the Los Angeleno who launched his career 12 years ago with Loser, a hip-hop-meets-rock parody of so-called slacker bands, had doubtless heard about his current tour, featuring a professional puppet theatre. Those who attended last month’s V Festival had seen it for themselves. Yet in a reasonably intimate venue, the puppets (there were five, one of each band member, each on its own stage and equipped with mini instruments) proved more than a mere sideshow. With their pretend set transmitted to giant video screens, visually they overshadowed the real band.
It was the puppets who opened with Loser, playing along to a backing track until a shaggy-haired Beck and his boys arrived to take over. At their best, however, the musicians stole back the focus from their little friends. Devil’s Haircut’s clattering collage of sounds, Nausea’s taut rock and a thrilling Black Tambourine, from last year’s Guero album, had the crowd cheering not only the tunes but Beck’s sonic versatility. He dipped in to Brazilian rhythms with Tropic?lia, was surprisingly sweet on the ballad Lost Cause and covered both the Korgis’ Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime and an old Hank Williams number on acoustic guitar and harmonica.
In almost two hours there were a few duds — a lengthy, directionless jam and two electro tracks on which Beck rapped badly. Yet the highs — and the puppets — were so good that the audience’s attention never waned. Towards the end of the set, out came a table and chairs. The band, bar Beck, sat down for dinner and then, Stomp-like, provided musical accompaniment by stamping their feet and playing plates and wine glasses with cutlery. It was a stunning set-piece, on which not a note was out of place. If proof was needed that Beck has not lost his edge, although his record sales may be sliding, then this was it. Nor has he lost his sense of humour. The encore began with a fabulous film of the puppets making mischief on the streets of Shepherds Bush and ended with Beck in a grizzly bear costume, leading a singlaong of Where It’s At. As for his puppet, he was replaced by a teddy bear.