By Liz Coffin-KarlinThe Daily Northwestern

Andrew Bird and his colorful instruments stood in sharp contrast to the pale brown Pick-Staiger Concert Hall stage.

During his performance Monday night, Bird switched from playing guitar or violin to whistling or singing, all the while toggling recording loops with his feet.

A&O Productions brought Bird, who received his bachelor’s in violin performance from the School of Music in 1995, to a sold-out crowd at Pick-Staiger.

“This is kind of a strange night for me as I spent three years here,” Bird said as he began the show. “Here I am back where I used to be in the orchestra. That’s kind of a trip.”

Bird’s musical performance was broken up by a short question-and-answer period. Most questions involved song requests, although two students brought gifts for Bird onto the stage.

Although the musician only honored one song request, he played several of his best known songs as well as a new piece that he called a “work in progress.”

“I thought of no better place to choke than here,” he said.

Bird said he comes up with many of his ideas after words or melodies get stuck in his head. He then puts these ideas into his music, a habit that led to his first songwriting efforts while he was a student at NU.

Between songs about his creative process, Bird answered student questions about performing as a soloist.

“(With a solo performer) the structure of the song is developing right in front of you and I think the audience becomes engaged at the perilousness of it,” he said.

After the concert, students said they enjoyed seeing Bird perform in an intimate setting.

“I really liked seeing him in a solo setting,” said Louise Rider, a Music senior who also saw him perform several weeks ago as part of a larger band at the Riviera Theatre in Uptown.

Outgoing A&O concert director Liz Korutz said the group originally thought of bringing Bird last year as part of the ongoing alumni speaker series. A part of the group’s funding annually goes toward bringing alumni to campus, but A&O usually brings in speakers instead of musicians.

“We wanted to use the alumni money in the most creative and effective way possible,” Korutz said.

Korutz said Bird was the “ideal alum” to bring to campus, especially because his new album, “Armchair Aprocrypha,” was released in March.

Tickets sold out only a few hours after they went on sale, said incoming A&O chairman Alex White, a SESP junior.

Several A&O members said they had not realized the extent of Bird’s popularity on campus.

“I didn’t think it would sell out,” Korutz said. “I thought it would be kind of a smaller audience. When it sold out so quickly, I was thrilled.”

People began lining up for the concert before 7 p.m., more than an hour before doors opened.

Dillon Styke, who called himself a “moderately big” fan of Bird, was one of the first people waiting in line. He sat reading a book for class while waiting for the doors to open.

“I had reading to do tonight so I figured I might as well do it here and get a better seat,” he said.

A&O members said they wanted to fill every seat in the house, and they instituted a separate line for those who did not have tickets before the show.

White said because students were able to get four free tickets with their WildCARDs, tickets ran out long before all interested students were able to get them.

After the show, A&O crew members said they were pleased with the event.

“I was really impressed by the audience turnout, really happy about their enthusiasm” said Weinberg and Music junior Syd Cohen, who produced the event for A&O.

She said she worried before the concert that no one would ask questions during the interactive portion and was glad that the lines had to be cut off due to time constraints.

“The audience really soaked up the sound,” Cohen said. “They made it seem more alive because people were around.”

Reach Liz Coffin-Karlin at [email protected].