Sultry songstress charms crowd

Little 500 weekend began with 70-degree weather and an outstanding performance by indie-rocker Feist at the IU Auditorium.\nThe show began shortly after 7:30 p.m. Friday, and at the time only about half of the auditorium was filled as opening act Hayden took the stage. Hayden, like Feist, is a Canadian indie folk singer. During his set he joked around a bit and told short stories about some of the songs he played.\nDuring one song, “Woody,” Hayden talked about how it was put on a Starbucks compilation CD, and that one woman complained the song sounded like Hayden was singing about him and his friends masturbating outside. It turns out, as Hayden described, that “Woody” was the name of his cat and the song was about his cat looking for other female cats. The song didn’t really hint at any “masturbatory overtones,” as Hayden called them. \nI had never heard any Hayden songs all the way through until Friday night, but I have to say that I was pleased with the majority of what I heard. His voice, as a friend of mine pointed out, sounded like Chris Martin’s from Coldplay. His songs were mostly accompanied by acoustic guitar and sometimes piano and harmonica.\nOverall, I would say the crowd was pleased with the opening act as he received an overwhelming round of applause.\nAlmost a half an hour after Hayden finished his set, Feist took the stage and was greeted by a now full and excited auditorium. Accompanied by her touring band made up of Bryden and Jesse Baird, their trumpet-playing father, Julian Brown of the band Apostle of Hustle and Afie Jurvanen of Paso Mino, Feist started her set behind a transparent, white screen. \nThe thin Leslie Feist danced and sang behind the screen as a bright light shone through the it, revealing only her silhouette. After she finished the first song, the screen was removed and was not brought out again until the encore.\nThe atmosphere of the show was amazing. I was sitting in the balcony, and there was one couple sitting next to me who were obviously big fans of Feist. The woman got up numerous times to dance during her set, and her husband got up to join her a couple times while the majority of people remained in their seats.\nFeist did something during her show that I had never seen before in a concert; it was unique and quintessentially “indie,” as some people would call it. Large images were projected onto the backdrop behind the band. Usually the images related to the songs. During “Sea Lion Woman,” there were female legs dancing on the backdrop. Also throughout the show, there were camera images of the band playing that gave the concert a more artistic flare.\nThe sultry female songstress played mostly songs off of “The Reminder” album and a few off her first album, “Let it Die.” She played the lesser-known “Mushaboom” to some of her most recognized songs including “1234” and “My Moon My Man.” Even those who may not have known Feist by name would definitely have recognized these two great songs from iPod commercials. She even sang a song written by Kevin Drew, a member of Broken Social Scene of which Feist is also a member.\nBalanced by a good variety of high-energy songs and slow, melodious tunes, Feist put on a great show, often getting the crowd involved by singing back-ups or telling jokes about fraternity houses.\nContrary to some former opinions given about this year’s Little 500 official concert, Feist turned out to be a great choice. She was absolutely nothing like Yung Joc or the Ying Yang Twins and was definitely nothing like the show DMX put on.\nShe got on stage and immediately had the crowd intrigued by her props, backdrops and smooth, rich vocals. Feist was definitely a nice addition to Little 500 week.