Beck brings (five) star power to The Joint

Spencer Patterson

Friday, Nov. 22, 2002 | 9:27 a.m.

Beck has earned five stars in the studio. Can he match that feat onstage?

With his latest album being hailed as the best of his career, the quirky singer/songwriter arrives for his first Las Vegas appearance in more than three years tonight at 8 at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Since its release in September, "Sea Change," has drawn widespread critical acclaim, even garnering Rolling Stone magazine's coveted five-star rating. The disc's intimate songs mark a new chapter for the 32-year-old Los Angeles native.

With his usual backing band unavailable, Beck is joined on his tour by Oklahoma alternative rock veterans the Flaming Lips.

Tonight's show will be Beck's first in Las Vegas since a May 6, 1999 show at the Tropicana's Tiffany Theatre -- a performance renowned for its rarity-laced set list.

Who: Beck.

Where: The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel.

When: 8 p.m. tonight

Tickets: Sold out.

Opening act: The Flaming Lips.

Personnel: Beck (vocals, guitar, piano, organ, harmonica).

Additional musicians: The Flaming Lips: Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitar), Michael Ivins (bass), Steven Drozd (guitar, keyboard, drums).

Latest release: "Sea Change" (Geffen, 2002).

Album feedback: "It's the best album Beck has ever made, and it sounds like he's paid dearly for the achievement ... 'Sea Change,' gleaming with twang and heartbroken strings, is an entire album of spectacular suffering." (Rolling Stone, five stars); "Consisting almost entirely of meditative orchestral dirges, the CD is, at first, off-putting ... With repeated listenings, the sluggish ditties transform into a beautiful, mournful hymn of love won and lost." (Entertainment Weekly, B+).

Essential releases: "Mellow Gold" (1994), "One Foot in the Grave" (1994), "Odelay" (1996), "Mutations" (1998).

What to expect: Considering the Flaming Lips had to learn Beck's songs to accompany him on the tour, you might think he's trotting out the same set every night. Not so. His shows have varied nightly, featuring hits and deep cuts from almost all of his albums, along with covers of the likes of The Velvet Underground, Big Star and Radiohead.

Recent set list: Saturday, Lied Center, Lawrence, Kan.: "Pay No Mind (Snoozer)," "MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack," "Kangaroo," "One Foot in the Grave," "Do You Realize??" "The Golden Age," "Lord Only Knows," "Get Real Paid," "Cold Brains," "It's All in Your Mind," "Lonesome Tears," "Tropicalia," "Who Loves the Sun," "Loser," "Pressure Zone," "Minus," "Little One," "Lost Cause," "Sissyneck," "Nicotine & Gravy," "Devils Haircut," "Where It's At."

Tour feedback: "The last time a band and a solo artist worked this well together might have been Dylan and the Band." (Houston Chronicle); "Country rock and techno never seemed so oddly related as in the hands of these particular musicians, and it was a sound -- and a sight -- to behold." (Boston Globe).

Previous Las Vegas appearances: June 5, 1994 (Huntridge); Oct. 13, 1996 (The Joint); Feb. 21, 1997 (Huntridge); May 6, 1999 (Tiffany Theater at the Tropicana).

Says Beck: "I don't want to be in a situation like some of these musicians who might as well not have a front door -- anybody can walk in and see anything. I'm about making art and music and performing. I don't understand these people who overexpose themselves. What kind of life is that? Something unpleasant happens to you that might have lasted for one or two days -- if it's in the press, it exists forever." (Rolling Stone, Oct. 17, 2002).