You can take the lounge band out of the lounge, but apparently you can't leave the lounge behind — even when you're taking up the Minnesota Orchestra on an offer to play in its posh performance hall.
Twin Cities rock club veterans the New Standards, who've been giving modern rock classics the jazzy piano-lounge treatment for a decade, got the royal treatment at Orchestra Hall on Saturday night. The orchestra backed the trio through almost two hours of its newly defined standards, which were redefined by the uniquely Minnesotan pairing.
Hearing local classics by the Replacements and the Suburbs performed by a musical ensemble too big to fit inside 7th Street Entry was certainly a new thing, but perhaps even more unusual was the addition of an actual cocktail lounge on stage. Even orchestra conductor Sarah Hicks was tempted into imbibing a few songs into the show.
"It's a revelation," Hicks enthused as she held up her glass on her podium.
There were moments in Saturday's performance that truly were revelatory.
The New Standards — singer/pianist Chan Poling (of the Suburbs), singer/bassist John Munson (Semisonic, Trip Shakespeare) and vibraphonist Steve Roehm — are known for spotlighting hidden melodies and deceptively intricate parts in their deftly chosen repertoire. They stuck to that game plan, but obviously they were playing in an entirely different league.
Using arrangements written exclusively for the show by Robert Elhai, the musicians from different worlds found common ground, making the Standards' standards sound even newer. They turned the Clash's "London Calling" into a would-be James Bond theme, the Replacements' "I Will Dare" into an ornate, fairy-tale-like piece, and David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" into a darkly lush score for a would-be Wim Wenders film.
"Look ma, I'm playing with the orchestra," Poling quipped near the start.
The night's first set culminated with a crescendoing, urgent version of Britney Spears' "Toxic." However, the high point came a song earlier with a much more serene and mellow version of the Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place," featuring plucky strings and a strong vocal turn by Munson.
Set two kicked off with the finest singing of the night by guest Aby Wolf in a nearly operatic take on St. Vincent's "Cruel." The emotional centerpiece of the show came near the end when Poling sang his own masterpiece "Love Is the Law," with a long, instrumental interlude.
Not everything worked. A Henry Mancini-ized version of Elliott Smith's "Between the Bars" dragged and felt a bit dour. The pre-encore finale of OutKast's sizzling "Hey Ya!" fizzled due to the drums being at muted orchestra level (not booming hip-hop level).
People finally got up and partied like it was 1999 — or like it wasn't Orchestra Hall — when the strings kicked into the familiar strains of Prince's "Take Me With U" during the encore. A testament to Prince's genius, Saturday's orchestrated version of the song actually hewed close to the original. Every other song of the night, however, was a testament to the New Standards' and the orchestra's shared artistic adventurism. Which may or may not have been helped along by them also sharing cocktails.
chrisr@startribune.com
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Twitter: @ChrisRstrib
