The Swell Season in Concert

Tonight I saw The Swell Season (aka the people from "Once") @ the Radio City Music Hall.

I love walking thru the RCMH. It always blows my mind that this piece of history was nearly reduced to rubble a couple decades ago. And the best thing is that so much of it is frozen in time. For instance - the hand dryers in the Ladies Room are run by a foot pedal. Granted it is just a few feet away from a modern day plastic changing table but still... ;)

Even though it was a sold out show it didn't seem as crazy as it was when I saw the Christmas Spectacular. Although they were still selling drinks that had parts that glowed in the dark. It was fun during the holidays but during this concert it seemed horribly out of place, tacky and distracting. Once the lights went down if someone decided they absolutely couldn't enjoy the concert w/out one then that's all you'd see bobbing thru the seats and pulling your focus as you tried to enjoy the concert.

One lady seated ahead of me did not get a glow drink but rather opted to pull out her floss and make sure her teeth were clear of the dinner she had earlier. I wondered where she put the floss when she was done...

The opening act was a group (Interference) that also appeared on the "Once" soundtrack and later came out to join The Swell Season in order to sing "Gold". The lead singer is in a wheelchair and I thought it was nice that everyone else on stage gets on his level whether it be sitting on a chair or on the floor when he is singing.

The Swell Season started their concert much like the movie "Once" w/ Glen Hansard standing in front of the mike w/ his guitar and singing, " Say it to me now". Awesome.

The rest of the group joined him after that and Glen talked to the crowd a lot giving an introduction to each song - "This song is about..." Many of them dealt w/ how unreasoning love can make a person or how impossible it is to try and put reason to love. One example he gave was that your heart is like a lion driving a train on ice and your brain says, "watch out for those rocks ahead" and your heart says, "F- the rocks!"

Because he was letting the "F-word" fly quite a bit he did give an Irish disclaimer to young ears in the audience.

Marketa Irglova's family was in the audience (they came over from the Czech Republic). She invited her sister up on stage to sing a song that was on The Wicker Man soundtrack. Having not seen The Wicker Man I was a little surprised by the lyrics of "Gently Johnny" as initially it seemed like a sweet moment w/ these 2 sisters singing @ RCMH and then it just got creepy.

Other moments -

They sang 2 Van Morrison songs and rocked the house. I think the audience might have gotten into those more than their original songs.

Glen kept trying to get the audience to sing along and then towards the end of the show he referenced his Irish heritage again and said that a show can't be over til everyone sings!

You could tell they were totally in awe of being on the stage @ RCMH and in a sold out show! Glen said that 2 years ago they passed RCMH and he pointed it out to Marketa and she had no idea how it was significant. He explained that it is the place to play. At the time they were just excited to have a sold out show of 150 people @ Pianos!

One of their band members had just recently finished an album and we found out that it was his album being played while people settled in before the concert, in between sets and after (it was available for sale @ the concert, too). They exited at one point and let him perform one of his songs. I have to say, they are a very supportive group and seem to be all about spreading the wealth of their good fortune.

Every time there was a moment of silence the audience felt the need to shout things (maybe it was those that were under the influence of glow drinks). One person said - New York Loves You! And he replied - What a lovely idea. Then someone wanted him to sing the "Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy". He did and then said that they put all this hard work into putting together the concert and that song is probably what people would remember from the night!

Other spontaneous moments included - Glen randomly went into a line from Arthur's Theme - "Between the Moon & New York City" and also went into a line from "Pure Imagination" and said he was just going w/ the moment...

Although performing at Radio City was a milestone for them I can't help but think they probably feel more @ home in a pub-type atmosphere. And having been to concerts at MSG and RCMH now, I have to say I prefer RCMH. :)

Back in O

Thanks to my procrastination in packing I didn't get to bed until 1am. Then I had to turn around and get up at 3:30am or so to get ready and out the door for car service to the airport and my EARLY morning flight! (Leaving early always pays off once you arrive @ the destination but there is a moment of "why so early?!" when first starting out! ;) )

While I was waiting on the 2nd half of my flight in MN (and chugging a mocha steamer from Dunn Bros.) I complimented an older lady on her turquoise necklace. She flashed the turquoise jewelry that also covered her fingers and wrist and said - "My son owns a pawn shop and he's generous." Later she told me that the necklace actually came from QVC or HSN if I wanted one for myself - she couldn't quite remember which but admitted she spends a lot of time sitting in front of both!

Landed in Omaha to a mix of rain/sleet/snow - ahhh, Nebraska!

A friend picked me up, I dropped off my luggage w/ another friend who works downtown and then treated my driver friend to lunch @ Upstream! :) Mmmmmmmmmm.....dill havarti mashed potatoes!

Then I was dropped off @ 13th Street Coffee to meet another friend. And later Delice to meet another lovely friend and then...it was time for dinner w/ my bro @ Famous Daves! Ugh. I enjoy all those places but not so much when I don't get time to digest in between! ;)

My bro and I headed out to meet a friend @ the MAC in CB to see the FOO FIGHTERS IN CONCERT!!! Yes, I was seeing them in concert again while I could! :)

My friend managed to get inside w/ a camera and took some great pics! And I have to say the audience in CB seemed to be a lot more into the concert than @ MSG. The Foos seemed like they were enjoying themselves a bit more too (maybe the fact that they were being taped @ MSG had something to do w/ that though) - Dave seemed to talk a lot more in CB, and they didn't play less either!

But I'm getting ahead of myself - actually made it there in time for part of the opening act show of Against Me! and my bro got to enjoy Serj - it was nice to have friends there to comment on his antics w/! ;) At times his little dances w/ the combination of the top hat he wore reminded me of Michigan J Frog.

When the Foos hit the stage, Dave apologized that they hadn't been there for 10 years - it was actually 5, but still he knew it had been entirely too long...maybe it felt like 10 years!;) The concert was sold out!

Other moments of note -

Dave dedicating "Big Me" to his "love" - Taylor.

Dave telling the audience to call in sick tomorrow "cause Dave said so."

Dave giving crap to a random audience member that was flipping him off (why would you pay money for concert tickets to flip the band off?!) Needless to say, Dave was using a lot of innuendo dealing w/ calling the audience member - cocksucker - and then apologized to young ears in the audience. Oops.

Afterwards I headed back to O w/ my friend and we stayed up late(r) catching up and checking out the concert pics.

I just realized I've been up since 3:30am and it's pushing 1am the next day! Whoa...sleep would probably be good. Gotta get up @ 6:30am....later this morning. ;)

The Journey to S.I. and back

Spent all last night cramming the monologue into my head for the audition tonight. Skipped lunch today so I could get off an hour early and at 4:30pm, I booked it to the subway.

Things looked good as I finally arrived @ the S.I. stop - was dodging & weaving around people trying to get to a Ferry Gate and then hit a roadblock when I came to stairs. No way to get around people, I was just stuck at whatever pace they were going. I checked my watch - I still had a few minutes til 5pm. I finally got up the stairs and saw others running so I started to run too and then a guy stood at the entrance waving his hands to stop us. The clock flipped to 5:01pm. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! The next one didn't take off for another 20 minutes or so...

Got onto the next Ferry and the trip was agonizing, as much like the stairs, I could only go as fast as the Ferry. Finally got to the other side and had to wait on a bus and I was quickly running late for the start of the auditions. Boarded the bus and met 2 others that were headed to auditions so if I was late, at least they would be too! ;)

Once we got to our stop, it was a big mess to figure out where the building that had auditions was on the fairgrounds area we were instructed to go to. It didn't help that daylight was gone, either.

Fortunately we seemed to be finding our way as we found a gated entrance. We flagged down some cops who shrugged and said they didn't know that area well - eek! What if there was an emergency?! Then we flagged down another car w/ a single driver. He asked if we were actors and we said, yes. He said he thought the place was up ahead and kept driving. An actor in our group wondered out loud if the driver was an actor, too and we all hoped he wasn't, otherwise he should have given us a ride! (Or at least that would have been the decent thing to do...)

Finally find the place and the auditions had started and the driver gives us all a sheepish smile. Nice.

I had about 20 minutes before I had to turn around so I could catch the bus and then catch the Ferry in time for the concert - at this point I didn't care about the opening acts, I just didn't want to miss the Foos!

So I go up to the gal @ the sign-in and apologize for being late but told her that I was told to ask her to get me in as I was rushed for time. 2 people went in after my request and by the time she told me I was to be next, I had to go.

I left a note for the person that had called me back to audition and left only to run into that person while I was hurrying to a bus stop. She called me by name and I think she thought I'd actually been able to audition when I hadn't. I didn't have time to straighten it out and figured she'd see my note - I could also feel tears of frustration building so I just wanted to keep moving.

I made it to the bus stop and in a few minutes the bus came. I ran on only to be told to get off. What?! The bus was having mechanical issues and just quit running. Lovely - I could have stayed for the audition!!!! By this time it was getting COLD out and the bus driver told us we could wait on the bus for another bus to come by but if the next bus didn't see us out there it wouldn't stop. Nice.

So I stood outside and lamented on the phone and FINALLY the bus came and then the painfully slow trip back on the Ferry. Then the subway. Then the dodge and weave around human traffic to MSG and then...I made it!

Whew!

And even saw the last half of the 2nd opening act - Serj Tankian (I had to text my bro as I recognized his voice singing "the terra cotta pie" song in my bro's car but couldn't remember the band he fronted for - System of the Down.) He is quite the showman and says what he wants.

It was my first time in MSG and I'm not sure why, but I expected it to be more than it was. It's just a concert hall. But it's probably more about the history - right?

The Foos finally took the stage and 2 songs in, the middle-aged guys that were supposed to sit next to me finally decided to show up. Since the rest of the row had already spread out the guys hardly had a place to stand so that put me partially out in the aisle and getting bumped into by the up & downers. After another song or two, one of the guys decided he needed a beer - then of course he came back a few song later, but then had to leave again because he had to go to the bathroom. Gah!!!

I had to remind myself why I was there - I was there to enjoy the Foos, I'd actually made it there to see the Foos, so I needed to concentrate on that...

Dave Grohl was his usual quipping self and the band became more than 4 as they split time between the main stage (for rock) and a smaller stage that extended out in the center of the floor for acoustic. Dave used the walkway during his guitar solos and at one point started leaning towards the ground as he played. What is he doing?! Down the walkway was his daughter trying to crawl towards Daddy. Very cute - but I hope she had some earplugs!

It was nice to see Pat Smear w/ the group (I missed the acoustic tour he also joined back up w/ them on) and I was witness to potentially the 1st cowbell solo in MSG to which Taylor Hawkins commented, "If someone just came out of the restroom and heard that they were probably like, 'WTF'?!"

All too soon the concert was over but not really... The crowd clapped and hollered in rhythm to get them out for an encore and then all of a sudden the screens showed their set list from tonight's concert and then Dave's face appeared. No sound was heard as he gestured whether we wanted them back out for 1 song. The crowd cheered. 2 songs?! The cheers were louder. 3 songs? Then Taylor came on and held up 4 fingers and the crowd went crazy but then the camera went back to Dave and he held up 3 fingers again but then kept flicking up his fourth.

No matter what, they were headed out to play at least a few more songs!

Then, for real, it was over.

Me and Norah Jones (and some other people)

Again I had a self-inflicted early morning when I woke up at 4am to get ready and head out to see a free Norah Jones concert sponsored by GMA.

The concert was at Bryant Park. The note about the free concert advised - For a good seat, get there before 6am. The concert time is between 7am-9am, no one would be allowed in after 7am. So I got there at 5:30am to stand in line. (A horrible pic, but it certainly captures my tiredness!)

The park was roped off so we weren't officially allowed in until 7am. For the most part, everyone filed in, in order of how they stood - except for one couple who decided to start passing everyone. In an effort to make them rethink their "cutting" ways I asked them when they got there - 5:30, they said. Sorry folks - I was technically there at 5:33 and you weren't standing behind me. They hung back for a bit and then when we got almost in front of the stage they zoomed off again. And because it was standing only - others that had gotten more sleep still had the possibility of maneuvering their way to the front for a good view. Garr!

While waiting on the concert to start, I texted my mom to let her know that I was standing near a tall, bald guy in a red jacket - a good visual aid when looking for me in the audience! ;) My mom let my g-rents know and by golly my grandma spotted me! But later she told my mom that she really didn't like Norah Jones - saying that she didn't look very happy. My mom said she thought she was shy.

(I think my mom is right, because when the "press" hollered to take her pic you could tell she felt weird about posing and smiling for it, but if someone in the audience interacted with her she was all smiles and very friendly.)

Ms. Jones came on stage for a sound check with her band so we got a preview of what was to come - finding out then that she was going to play 2 songs on air and 1 song that was going to be recorded and put "exclusively" online.

The actual "concert" wouldn't happen until right before 9am - with a bit of GMA news being reported around us (the "sub" anchors were there - Kate Snow and a guy who's name escapes me at the moment - as the regulars were on vacay, but regular weatherman Sam Champion was there) in the meantime.

Norah Jones is TINY. She was even wearing heels and the anchors still towered over her. While waiting to play - some over zealous fans yelled, "Norah, what's your favorite ice cream?" She said it was chocolate - but it had to be a little melted. Then they asked her if she had a pet. She said "no" but she'd like to get a dog. Then 2 little girls in the front row asked her what her favorite color was and she said, blue.

She started to tell us we were a great audience and then realized her mic wasn't on, so she shouted it. She added that she was afraid no one would show up that early to see her!

During all of this the gal next to me kept bashing into me with the backpack on her back because she kept turning to her husband that was standing behind her. Eventually I scooted over, but then of course found I had a head blocking part of my view - doh!

Finally the concert started. She played a new song off her current album (Not Too Late) - "Sinking Soon", a changed up version of "Come Away With Me" and then "Cold, Cold Heart".

And just like that, it was over. Listerine was co-sponsoring the event so we got Listerine goody bags with a sample package of Listerine PocketPaks, Bandaid Blister Bandaids, First Aid Burn Cooling Patches, 2 different 8 oz. bottles (one with whitening action) of Listerine Mouth Wash and a sample of Reach Cleanpaste Floss.

Then it was off to get some caffeine! And check out what movie I wanted to watch before noon in Times Square....