Kevin Bronson on September 21st, 2014

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Twelve albums and two-plus decades into his career, Beck knows how to make a concert a narrative rather than just an assemblage of songs. So it was on Saturday night at the Orpheum, where played for more than two hours – starting with more subdued material from his vast catalog before ratcheting up the energy about 45 minutes in. There, after the buoyant “Waking Light” – one of a half-dozen songs he performed off his new album “Morning Phase” – Beck and his band strung together “Devil’s Haircut,” “Black Tambourine,” “Loser” and “The New Pollution.” Beck interspersed some choice covers, embedding Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” with his own “Think I’m in Love.” And near the finish, before “Sexx Laws,” the band left the stage for a brief moment and came back out. Beck then took some police tape that read “Crime Scene Do Not Cross” and attached each end to a speaker on each side of the stage. The show was being taped, presumably for some video release. During the finale, “Where It’s At,” Beck introduced the band, and each member played a quick solo while some performed short covers (Rolling Stones, Van Halen, Abba), and it culminated with Beck breaking out his harmonica and doing a Sonny Terry-style blues song.

Photos by David Benjamin