When Belle and Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch asked the packed house at the Arsht Center\u2019s Knight Concert Hall on Sunday night if any of the attendees actually lived in downtown Miami, he was met with near silence. Instead, as Murdoch discovered, fans made the long drive to one of the state\u2019s southernmost counties from all over Florida. My seatmate traveled from Atlanta for the show. As one devoted concertgoer told Murdoch, he flew in from France just for this performance.<\/p>\n
Most would agree that it was worth every mile traversed, whether by air, highway, or foot. Not only do the seminal Scottish indie-pop pioneers seldom tour Florida\u2014their last show here was at the Fillmore in Miami Beach 12 years ago\u2014but this appearance was extra special, as it celebrated the group\u2019s finest album, 1996\u2019s If You\u2019re Feeling Sinister, on the occasion of its landmark 30th anniversary.<\/p>\n
Before the group performed the album in its entirety, opening act Joanna Sternberg\u2014who appeared with Belle and Sebastian at the 2024 Kilby Block Party Festival in Salt Lake City, Utah, which I reviewed for our sister publication<\/a>\u2014delivered a set of her touching, insightful, and raw pop, divided between folky guitar and Randy Newmanesque piano. Chatty as ever between tunes, even while battling a head cold, they commented on how \u201cbeautiful\u201d the City of Miami was\u2014\u201cAnd I don\u2019t even like to go outside.\u201d In another riff, they referenced Dana Carvey\u2019s Neil Young impression from an old HBO comedy special. At another time, when they began to overshare, they caught themselves, adding, \u201cThis isn\u2019t therapy, Joanna; shut up.\u201d<\/p>\n Even with their audible stuffy nose, Sternberg sounded terrific and was in great spirits. Their music is not everyone\u2019s cup of tea\u2014I would liken it to that of the late, great outsider artist Daniel Johnston, who, like Sternberg, also created visual art to accompany his music\u2014but for those who appreciate music that is almost uncomfortable in its vulnerability and realness, there is nobody better on the scene right now. In a Joanna Sternberg set, as on their records, there is not an iota of affectation or pretense. I was charmed to see a long line queue up at their merch table after their set.<\/p>\n Starting promptly at 8 p.m., Belle and Sebastian opened with their breakthrough twee opus. I\u2019ve been a fan of If You\u2019re Feeling Sinister for more than two-thirds of its 30-year shelf life, so to hear its songs performed even more intricately than on the album was a singular treat. The eight-piece act that recorded the LP has increased to a nonet, complete with trumpet, violin, and cello alongside conventional rock instrumentation. It all created a warm cocoon of sound that was especially felt on the winsome \u201cFox in the Snow\u201d and the title song. \u201cGet Me Away From Here, I\u2019m Dying,\u201d the album\u2019s most enduring hit, featured not one but two recorder players!<\/p>\n Full production elements supplemented the performance, from intentional lighting effects to videos projected on a screen behind the band that added sometimes literal, other times suggestive imagery to accompany the music: Runners practicing during \u201cStars of Track and Field\u201d; sculptures from antiquity throughout the scorching, harmonica-propelled \u201cMe and the Major\u201d; anatomical slides of insects for \u201cMayfly.\u201d The crowd, seated and reserved through most of the album\u2019s cuts, rose almost in unison for the extended album closer \u201cJudy and the Dream of Horses,\u201d which conjured the party vibe we had all been waiting for, culminating in Murdoch sporting a surreal horse head like something out of a David Lynch film.<\/p>\n The audience remained standing for much of Belle and Sebastian\u2019s second set, which featured hits and deep cuts from the rest of its extensive discography, from its debut single (\u201cDog on Wheels\u201d) to the plaintive \u201cSeymour Stein,\u201d whose harmonies between Murdoch and fellow-vocalist Stevie Jackson recalled the halcyon Americana of Gram Parsons.<\/p>\n While the group confined itself to the stage during the all-business first set, distinctions between performer and audience collapsed during the free-for-all vibe of its closing set. Murdoch first entered the crowd to solicit a dancer to groove onstage with him for \u201cI\u2019m a Cukoo,\u201d and the volunteer, Sierra, was so engaging and on point that her interactions with Murdoch felt choreographed rather than improvised.<\/p>\n The tune led right into the group\u2019s standard practice of inviting anyone from the audience to jump onstage and dance to \u201cThe Boy With the Arab Strap.\u201d Murdoch jibed one onstage fan for checking a text, then suggested he take a selfie with him, which then led to myriad selfies, with Murdoch adding, \u201cThis is better than doomscrolling, I hope?\u201d He even gave out his personal Gmail address (if you believe him) for fans to send him their pictures from the night.<\/p>\n Finally, during the encore of the acoustic favorite \u201cPiazza, New York Catcher,\u201d Murdoch performed nearly all of it from the aisles, slapping hands and bumping fists like a wrestler making his entrance, or like a charismatic preacher gracing his faithful flock with his presence. The show ended up being as much about community-building as honoring one of the best indie rock albums of the 1990s. For one evening, at least, Murdoch made everyone in the building feel like a part of his extended family.<\/p>\n