Magnetic Fields at Roadrunner, March 24, 2024

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25 years after its release, the Boston-formed Magnetic Fields make the most of the famous album’s “fraudulent authenticity.”

The premise is a bit daunting — in more ways than one. For the first time in about a quarter century, The Magnetic Fields are playing the entirety of their iconic album, “69 Love Songs,” on tour.

Yes, all 69 songs.

With arrangements varying from those committed to the triple-CD set once upon a time, the eight-piece ensemble embarked on the endeavor with a tour kickoff at Roadrunner in Brighton on Sunday night, maneuvering carefully but playfully through the first half of the eclectic mix.

Billed as a 25th anniversary tour of songwriter-vocalist Stephin Merritt’s seriously unserious 1999 collection, these shows follow the diverse tracklist in order, spanning the irreverent and dizzying array of the genre-swapping indie pop experiment in clichés that won over critics upon its release in 1999.

Sunday’s show encompassed 35 songs — many of them the signature, short takes on the modern love song that fill the Boston-formed band’s album, from the four-line acapella song, “Roses” (the shortest at 28-seconds), to the Fleetwood Mac-flavored “Sweet-Lovin’ Man” (the longest at just under 5 minutes).

Together, they covered two hours and two minutes, broken in half by a 21-minute intermission. As is the case with the other stops on this tour, the Fields will play the latter half of the album during a second performance at Roadrunner on Monday night.

“This is part number one, show number one, night number one of the thousandth show,” Merritt, in a deadpan delivery, quipped as the band strolled out on stage to begin, demonstrating he, too, is acutely aware of the ground the Fields have to cover each night.

Until Sunday night, such a feat was only attempted seven times, or so says a count on the album’s Wikipedia page. Longtime local fans may recall one of those performances — also over the course of two nights — at the Somerville Theatre in December 2000.

Cheers erupted when vocalist and pianist Claudia Gonson took an informal poll of the crowd at Roadrunner by asking who there was also at the Somerville gig all those years ago. Laughter quickly followed when Gonson then asked who there wasn’t born yet in 2000.

“It was easier when I was 25,” she remarked not long after when she finished singing the quick-moving, nearly tongue-twisting, and still just-as-lively, “Reno Dakota.”

But signs of wear accumulated by those 25 years that have passed were largely unnoticeable on Sunday. 

Shirley Simms still carried her own in singing the jangly “Come Back from San Francisco,” and the searching “No One Will Ever Love You.”

Merritt’s mumbly baritone remains, seemingly, well intact, with plenty of play throughout the set, including in the gentle “I Don’t Believe in the Sun,” in the head-bopping “Fido, Your Leash Is Too Long,” and in the comical “A Pretty Girl Is Like …”

“The Book of Love,” the fan-revered album standout, was beautifully framed by cellist Sam Davol, while Dudley Klute, one of the record’s original guest singers, skillfully reprised his vocals on “The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side” and “Very Funny.” Guitarist and vocalist Anthony Kacynzski brought the show to a warm close, taking the lead on “Promises of Eternity.”

Guitarist-banjoist John Woo and electronic musician Chris Ewen also helped keep a tight rhythm section going throughout the long stretch of material. (Merritt acknowledged, though, the absence of vocals on several songs from LD Beghtol, who died in 2020. Band member Susan Anway, who sang on the group’s first two albums, also died in 2021.)

Aside from the billing itself, there was little fanfare made around the milestone anniversary — i.e. no stories offered or “remember when” kinds of moments fans often like to devour on these types of commemoration tours. And while pauses between songs occasionally allowed for some banter, the Fields, sitting stationary throughout, largely kept the music flowing — perhaps because of the 35-song setlist, or perhaps because of Merritt’s own self-admitted dislike of playing live. 

In that vein of honesty, Merritt also once said “69 Love Songs” uses “fraudulent authenticity,” yet, perhaps strangely, Sunday’s show — and possibly by extension, this tour — feels, however, like it’s built on sincerity, or at least heartily sustained by it. 

In a cult-following-like-fashion, the Boston crowd hung closely to Merritt and company down that meandering path in song. Apparently, 25 years on, in a completely corny but true kind of way, “69 Love Songs” is still feeling plenty of love.

Setlist for the Magnetic Fields at Roadrunner, March 24, 2024

The Magnetic fields took the stage at 8:21 p.m. The show ended at 10:23 p.m.

• Absolutely Cuckoo
• I Don’t Believe in the Sun
• All My Little Words
• A Chicken with Its Head Cut Off
• Reno Dakota
• I Don’t Want to Get Over You
• Come Back From San Francisco
• The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side
• Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits
• The Cactus Where Your Heart Should Be
• I Think I Need a New Heart
• The Book of Love
• Fido, Your Leash Is Too Long
• How F–ing Romantic
• The One You Really Love
• Punk Love
• Parades Go By

Intermission (21 minutes)

• Boa Constrictor
• A Pretty Girl Is Like…
•  My Sentimental Melody
• Nothing Matters When We’re Dancing
•  Sweet-Lovin’ Man
• The Things We Did and Didn’t Do
• Roses
• Love Is Like Jazz
• When My Boy Walks Down the Street
• Time Enough for Rocking When We’re Old
• Very Funny
• Grand Canyon
• No One Will Ever Love You
• If You Don’t Cry
• You’re My Only Home
• (Crazy for You But) Not That Crazy
• My Only Friend
• Promises of Eternity

Magnetic Fields plays night two of their “69 Love Songs” 25th year celebration Monday, March 25, at 8 p.m. at Roadrunner.