Walking into Queen’s Hall for the first night of this two-part show, there’s a clear buzz of excited anticipation in the room. The space begins to fill up, the chatter bubbling through the room. Yet, the moment The Magnetic Fields appeared, the room fell silent. Mugs of tea in hand, Stephin Merritt and Shirley Simms walked over to opposite sides of the stage. Sam Davol sat between them with his cello, and on either side of him were Chris Ewen on the keyboard and Anthony Kaczynski on guitar and vocals.

The iconic opening line, “Don’t fall in love with me”, delivered in Merritt’s trademark baritone on ‘Absolutely Cuckoo’, ruptured the silence and invited us into the world of 69 Love Songs. And with that, we were off. Aside from Merritt’s quips and deadpan comments scattered between songs, the band went barrelling through the triple album, with just a short intermission each night. Despite having loved and listened to 69 Love Songs for years, hearing each song played live one after the other brought the range of characters and voices that live in each song to life.

With ‘I Don’t Want to Get Over You’ Merritt’s broody narrator wallowed in post-breakup blues and flirted with the idea of succumbing to a life full of black turtlenecks, clove cigarettes, Camus, and lots of vermouth. On ‘Long-Forgotten Fairytale’ Simms and Kaczynski duetted as a character who can’t break free from an abusive relationship while blistering electropop flooded the room. With ‘Abigail, Belle of Kilronan’ Kaczynski’s soft strumming and Merritt’s wistful vocals introduced us to a soldier leaving his love behind as he heads to battle. Halfway through, Davol’s cello swelled and enveloped the room, sweeping us up and into the Irish ballad.

During ‘Yeah! Oh, Yeah!’ (referred to as ‘Aye! Oh, Aye’ by Merritt for the night’s Scottish audience), waves of cello and guitar inundated the room while Merritt and Simms played an embittered married couple lobbing lines back and forth until the husband stabbed his wife. Then, for added theatrical flair, seconds before ‘Promises of Eternity’ began, the room plunged into darkness. In a sea of black, a huge spotlight shone directly on Kaczynski. He quickly stood up, grabbed his mic, and belted out “What if the show didn’t go ooooooon?” while Ewen’s keyboard and synths playfully pierced through the room in accompaniment. Each song was a treat.

During the second night’s intermission, a reviewer beside me asked what I thought about the show. I couldn’t help but gush – I loved every minute. When I asked for their thoughts, they said they felt like the band was “just playing each song on the album” and “with the album being so perfect, it’s hard not to prefer listening to that instead.” In a way, I understand their point. For some, listening to the titular 69 love songs in sequence for three hours over two nights might feel pointless. Why do that when you could just play the album on Spotify (or vinyl for the cool kids out there)? As my fellow reviewer said, the album is perfect…and that’s precisely what makes going to a show like this so special. It felt like for two nights and two nights only, 69 Love Songs had come alive. Within the walls of Queen’s Hall, all 800 of us were invited to fall into the album and intimately experience all 69 songs one after another. To me, that’s magic.