Honestly, I have done a terrible job of documenting the last week with photos... therefore, I've completely forgotten most of what has happened. It's a one time thing (I think). Won't happen again! (I think).
I do, however, want to talk about a couple fantastic highlights from the week. Everything else would seem trivial in comparison, anyway. I just so happened to have TWO amazing concerts to attend within a span of a few days-- concerts that I've had tickets for for months. And both were absolutely amazing! Completely exceeded my expectations. (And I had some high expectations, lemme tell ya).
On Wednesday, after a long day of internship and class, my friend, Emily, and I raced over to Rockwood Music Hall in the East Village for a Chris Thile show. Doors opened at 9:00pm (which just so happened to be the exact time I got out of class that night), and when we finally got there, the line was already pretty long. I was so worried we wouldn't find a good place to stand.
But boy, was I wrong! Check out this view I had for all two and half hours.
Yep. Literally 10 feet (max) the entire show. I could see every bead of sweat on Chris Thile's forehead (okay, that may be weird). And he looks slightly demonic in this photo, but it's just because he was probably in the middle of some crazy mandolin solo or something.
The entire concert (once again, two and half hours) was literally just him and his mandolin. No one else. No other instruments. And it was beyond amazing. He captivated the audience (of about 150 people) the entire time, and he played everything from Bach to the Beach Boys (with a little bit of Punch Brothers, Nickel Creek, and his own stuff thrown in). You could tell everyone else was just as obsessed with him as I am, and you could literally hear a pin drop the whole time. Also, he did TWO encores (the first one including one of my favorite songs of all time... "Doubting Thomas".... gets me every time).
I was laughing and crying (and swooning) from start to finish, and I've said it a million times already, but this was the best 30 bucks I've spent in a very, very long time. Gahh. I just love music. And Chris Thile.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, I went to the second concert. Bon Iver. This time, instead of a venue fit for 150 people, I saw the show at a venue fit for 6,000 people. And it was completely sold out.
This was my first time seeing Bon Iver live and my first time seeing a show at the world-famous, Radio City Music Hall. I have to say that there was quite a lot of hype about both Bon Iver and Radio City Music Hall, so my expectations were pretty high for this one.
And it was absolutely stunning.
The whole thing: venue and show.
It's been a LONG time since I last saw a show at such a large venue (in fact, I believe the last mega concert I went to was when my parents dragged my brother and me to KISS when we were 11 and 9). It was a little difficult to get used to at first... I'm so used to being able to stand up for a high energy show like Bon Iver... and I'm not used to people constantly getting up, walking down the aisles, blocking my view... to go to the bathroom or get more booze or whatever they were doing. I wanted to shake every single one of them and say, "You spent $60 to see Bon Iver tonight, and all you seem to care about is candy and drinks! This isn't a movie! It's a concert! Music! You should sit down and listen."
But I didn't say any of that, don't worry.
And after awhile, I was able to tune all of those distractions out and actually listen to the concert.
Justin Vernon's voice was so beautiful, I don't even think I can put it into words. He sounds just as amazing live as he does on his albums... and his range is incredibly impressive. Like Chris Thile, he put on a rollercoaster of a show. As in, I was laughing and crying and dancing and singing and thinking the entire time: "I. Love. Music."
The encore was my favorite part. I don't even know what happened. Everyone ditched their seats, and for the first time the entire show, all eyes were on the band. No one left to go to the bathroom or get another glass of wine. It was magnificent.
I just hopped on the F train to get back to Brooklyn Heights, and I went to bed, dreaming of music.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I do have to say that one of my favorite parts of both concerts was the fact that both Chris Thile and Justin Vernon seemed so humbled by the presence of the audience. These are two guys that have played all over the world (for audiences from 150 to 6,000), and they genuinely seemed so amazed that so many people came out to listen to their music. Chris Thile was blushing the whole time (part of that may have to do with the whiskey he kept sipping on), and Justin Vernon kept saying "Wow. Thanks, guys. Thank you so much for listening to my music."
Ah. I just love it when you can tell an artist plays because they love playing music.
I'm sorry again that I completely forgot about everything else, but in my opinion, those concerts gave me quite enough excitement for one week. I just love everything. EVERYTHING.
<3
Nat
No comments:
Post a Comment