Godrich joins Beck onstage at Echoplex tuneup show

[Correspondent Jeff Miller reports from the Sunday night festivities at the Echoplex:]

Beck -- the Silver Lake icon whose recent tours have found him banging out drum parts on a kitchen table and dancing along with a puppet version of himself -- isn't exactly predictable. One thing for sure, though: Before embarking on a tour with a new band, he'll give them a test run in front of a smallish sea of rabid fans at a local venue, rather than testing their might in a packed arena.

Such was the impetus for his last-minute, back-to-basics show at the Echoplex on Sunday night -- a warmup for a short international stadium stint opening for the Police. Beck ditched his recent shtick for a guitar-based set that spanned his career, backed by a band that may be the best he's found yet: on-again, off-again collaborators Justin Meldal-Johnsen and Joey Waronker on bass and drums, respectively; singer-songwriter Jason Falkner picking up guitar duties; and, on keys, producer/legend Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Paul McCartney, Beck, Travis, among others).

Beck claimed this show was Godrich's U.S. stage debut, and, per his repuation, Godrich added electronic whooshes and keyboard fills to everything from the "Mellow Gold"-era album cut "[Messin'] With My Head" to recent hits like "Nausea."  When the front man eschewed an encore, insisting the band had played all the songs it knew, Meldal-Johnsen showed them the chords to "Odelay's" "Lord Only Knows." Once they tore into it, the results were shambolic and loose -- perhaps not quite stadium-ready, but certainly a ramshackle fit for an audience rabidly hanging on every chord.