Beck played on a (semi-)public stage last night, for the first time since March 2009. (!)
It was a charity gig for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, tickets cost minimum $5000, and he shared the stage with Devendra Banhart and Caetano Veloso. Also the ‘band’ was Beck’s bassist, Bram Inscore, 3 violinists, and a cellist. I have no idea what they performed, but the LA Times says this: “all three performed together in a multilayered piece.”
Some of the pictures I’ve seen of the event seem to indicate that Beck & Devendra and the string section played first, and then Caetano joined them at some point. If any of you famous celebrities (Rose McGowan, hi) were there and want to email me about what went down, feel free: almostaghost@gmail.com
If I hear anything, I’ll update here too.
UPDATE: The LA Times had a fuller report of the evening (and Beck.com wrote it up too). Apparently, they played 4 songs. Initially, Devendra sang his song “At The Hop,” I’m not entirely clear if Beck was involved there (Beck.com seems to say he was, but LA Times seems to say it was just Devendra). After that, Beck and Devendra and the string section did “The Golden Age,” a video clip of which is in the comments below. Next, Caetano Veloso joined them and did his songs “Nine Out Of Ten” and “Maria Bethania.” Afterwards, there was a performance art piece by Doug Aitken called “WE” and Beck apparently participated in that somehow. The piece included drummers, auctioneers, and a guy with a whip.