Live Review: Andrew Bird @ Pritzker Pavilion 9/3

[Above: Bird and his flock in a video projection onstage at Pritzker.]

Don’t be fooled by the violin: The mild-mannered Andrew Bird is actually a badass superhero, capable of launching NASA missions from his loop pedal. Looking like Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther and sounding like his namesake avian counterparts, the diminutive multi-instrumentalist captivated a rapt crowd at Chicago’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion on Sept. 3.

More than 13,000 fans attended Wednesday's performance, Andrew Bird's largest hometown appearance to date-- a far cry from the cozy confines of Hideout where old-school fans fell in love with him through the years.

“Fiery Crash,” “A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left,” and “Plasticities” warmed the audience up for Bird’s surprising, penultimate rock star moment: Pulling a huge dose of flair from under his virtuoso wing, Bird ripped off the intro to “Fake Palindromes” like Jon Bon Jovi thrusting into “Living on a Prayer” at a random bar on the Jersey turnpike. The formerly demure crowd morphed into a living, writhing mass of dancing bodies and shrieking women: Bird’s secret sex-symbol status had been revealed.

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