The New Theatre was the perfect venue for the show. Old school, multi level, plush seats. There are two public bars, but drinks aren’t cheap. One thing is for sure, though – they didn’t like cameras at this show. Every time a flash went off, the theatre staff would go running toward it! They had their work cut out for them that night.

Before the music started a film was shown – Mark Oliver Everett’s “Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives”, a documentary about his famous physicist father, the late Hugh Everett III. I skipped that because I had already seen it when it was originally screened on BBC Four back in November. I do recommend it though.

After the film, a full band set-up was displayed on the stage, so naturally I thought that E would be playing with a band. That wasn’t the case at all. Throughout the night it was just E and his band mate, introduced as “The Chet” (Jeffrey Lyster), who played and entertained, and it was funny watching them walk onto the stage dressed in matching mechanic jump suits, reminiscent of Mike Watt, Glastonbury 2007.

The quality of musicianship between the two is top notch. The Chet played guitar, piano, drums, pedal steel and my favorite of the night – the saw, played with a bow. I can’t believe the tone he was able to get out of it, and the wonderful vibrato, especially on “Bus Stop Boxer”.

E also went from piano, guitar and at one point when The Chet was on drums, E slowly slid behind the kit as The Chet slid out – while still playing. I remember from the “Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives” documentary that E was originally a drummer, so it made sense that he sounded great on the skins.

Eels fans may already be aware of the fact that Mark Oliver Everett has written a book, an autobiography entitled Things the Grandchildren Should Know. A couple times during the show they would stop playing and The Chet would stand up at a podium and read aloud excerpts from the book. It was a good idea, and the parts that he read were interesting, including the time when E first moved to LA and met Angie Dickinson while she was getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

When The Chet got up to read from the book for the second time, a heckler from the audience yelled out, “Tosser”! They handled it well, though, and made a joke about not knowing what “tosser” meant and that The Chet tosses a good salad. They got a good laugh from the audience.

They played songs from the ‘Meet The Eels’ and ‘Useless Trinkets’ albums, and toward the end of the show, the song that I’m most familiar with by Eels, their first single release from the late ’90s, “Novocaine for the Soul” (watch video). It was great to hear it live.

The Chet also had his turn on vocals as he played drums and sang on a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times, Bad Times”. Other songs included, “Strawberry Blonde”, “Souljacker Pt. I” and “Jeannie’s Diary”.

Eels US leg of the tour starts March 28, 2008 in Philadelphia. If you can, try and catch one of their shows. It was a great night of music and entertainment.

For more information, tour dates and music, go to:

Eels Official Website

By: Jenny May – BandWeblogs.com

Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives follows the lead singer of US rock band Eels, Mark Oliver Everett (E), on his journey of discovery across America to learn about the father he never knew, Hugh Everett III, the quantum mechanic. The BBC Four one hour documentary will premiere on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 9:00pm (GMT).

This year is the 50th anniversary of Hugh Everett’s most important contribution to science – a controversial theory of quantum mechanics that predicts the existence of Parallel Universes, one of the most fantastic scientific predictions ever to have been conceived.

Hugh wrote the theory as a young PhD student at Princeton University, but for 20 years it remained largely ignored by the scientific community. Faced with derision and rejection, Everett abandoned academia and forged a career in the American defence industry. It was only at the end of his life, that his visionary work began to be taken seriously.

Hugh died of a heart attack in his home in 1982 where his body was found by 19 year old son Mark. Even though they had lived in the same house, the two of them were alienated and Mark knew nothing about his father’s work.

“My father never, ever said anything to me about his theories. I was in the same house with him for at least 18 years but he was a total stranger to me. He was in his own parallel universe. He was a physical presence, like the furniture, sitting there jotting down crazy notations at the dining room table night after night. I think he was deeply disappointed that he knew he was a genius but the rest of the world didn’t know it.” – Mark Everett.

In this intelligent and imaginative film, the wry and charismatic Mark takes a journey back into his father’s life, meeting his old college pals, family friends and colleagues and takes a crash course in the weird world of quantum mechanics in order to understand his father’s mind blowing theory.

Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives 1×60
Produced by Specialist Factual, BBC Scotland
Filmed, Produced and Directed by Louise Lockwood
26 November 2007

In other Eels news:

Eels are set to celebrate their 10-year anniversary with the release of their first ‘best of’ and ‘rarities’ collections, ‘Meet The EELS: Essential EELS Vol. 1, 1996-2006 (CD+DVD)’, and ‘Eels Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities and Unreleased 1996-2006 (2CD+DVD)’ out on 21 January 2008.

Read more about Eels Best Of and Useless Trinkets rarities.

Eels Official Website