Present Joys
“We thank the Lord of heaven and earth
who hath preserved us from our birth
for present joys, for blessings past,
and for the hope of heaven at last.”

Tag concerts

23 posts between March 2011 and February 2014

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy at Stuart’s Opera House (27 sep 2011)

I went to another concert this past tuesday! Me and my good buddy Ian went to see Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. The show was at a venue called Stuart’s Opera House in Nelsonville, Ohio, which is a small town about 60 miles southeast of Columbus, in the middle of Wayne National Forest. The center of the little town was a grassy common area with buildings on all four sides of it. Stuart’s Opera House was in one of the buildings facing the grassy area, crammed in with a bunch of others.

We had an hour to kill before the show, and since there was reserved seating, we didn’t have to worry about getting in line. Ian and I walked all around the town center, looking for food. Being 7pm on a tuesday night, the area felt deserted. Virtually all the people we encountered had obviously come into town for the concert. That, and the fact that the town looked old and a little spooky, there was a very odd vibe. The only open places in the town center were a dark, smoky bar filled with people and a totally empty pizza place, on opposite sides of the block.

The people at the bar told us that they didn’t serve dinner food, but if we wanted, we could order at the pizza place and have it delivered to the bar. So that’s what we did: I got a sub and Ian got a little pizza. We ate it in the bar, because it seemed less lonely than the empty pizza place. And soon it was time for the show.

The inside of the venue was very cool; it was laid out like a fancy old theatre but it was furnished very sparsely (white plaster walls and a plain hardwood floor), which gave it an old-west kind of feeling. The concert hall itself was on the second floor of the building, the first floor being the lobby/refreshment area. They had beer and drinks and complimentary coffee.

The crowd was as I’d expected it: very diverse ages and sorts of people. There was, of course, a strong contingent of hipsters, but they were cool post-college-age hipsters who seemed sensible and interesting. While we were at the show, we talked to an old lady who was going to the show because her neighbor asked her to go, a redneck-sort of guy wearing camouflage unironically, and a 30-something woman who was smoking an e-cigarette and awkwardly compelled Ian to drag off it. So that shows the kind of diversity in the audience.

The opener was a band called Phantom Family Halo. They played a sort of neo-psychedelic indie rock that was rather dull. Will Oldham (who is Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy) came out and sang lead vocals on one of their songs, which was the best part of the set.

Soon it was time for BPB’s set, and everything became much more interesting. Will Oldham had a bunch of people with him: that Emmett Kelly guy from the Cairo Gang singing harmony parts and playing guitar, a girl singing backup vocals, and guys playing keyboard/harmonium, double bass, and drums. All of them were great, but best of all was Emmett Kelly. He seemed like the perfect sidekick-collaborator guy. His singing and playing was really great and nice, but he never stuck out too much or drew too much attention to himself.

I only really knew three or four of the songs he played. But it was the kind of concert where it didn’t matter if you knew the songs; like the symphony or a great film, it was just a beautiful thing to experience. By the end of the show, I was getting so into the music it felt like a chore to clap and stuff. Just a fantastic experience. My favorite part of the show was the performance of “Go, Folks, Go”, which was intimate and beautiful and wonderful. It was a great great time and if you have a chance to see this guy on tour, I highly recommend it!

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They Might Be Giants at Southgate House (20 sep 2011)

Tuesday night I drove to Cincinnati to see They Might Be Giants! It was at this venue called the Southgate House, which turns out is like this old Victorian mansion on the riverfront. It was really cool venue: the inside still had rooms and hallways like a house, and even had spooky period furnishings. A flight of stairs inside the house led down to the actual venue, an oddly-giant room that felt kinda like the Newport, but much more comfortable. And, as it turns out, possessing pretty decent acoustics.

First was Jonathan Coulton! He was great, as expected. The set was a good length and had a nice mix of older songs and new stuff from Artificial Heart. The choice of JoCo to open for TMBG seems so obvious and natural. You could tell the audience was very engaged, and a lot of people were familiar with Coulton’s music. That was really cool.

And then TMBG came on! I was standing in the second row back from the stage, on the right side of the house. For the first few songs when JL played accordion, he stood right in front of me. That Main Squeeze accordion is even prettier in real life (I was very jealous). Anyway, after the accordion set was finished, JL moved over to the keyboard stage-right and Dan Miller stood in front of where I was standing, which was cool. Danny Weinkauf also came over at one point and played a bass solo two feet away from my head, which was great. I was kinda sad because JL’s keyboard was directly in my line-of-sight to Marty, so I couldn’t really see him at all. I just imagined his drumming face.

There was this older couple in front of me, at the very front row of the stage, probably in their early-60s, who were very cute. During the last song, Dead, I looked over and they were both singing all the words to the song. It was awesome.

The show itself was just great. Top-notch everything. One of my favorite things onstage were the giant human-operated spotlights. The setlist was really good and balanced. I didn’t get to hear Canajoharie, so that was a little tiny bit of a letdown, but they played a bunch of other great songs so it was ok. Being a part of “Battle for Planet of the Apes” was odd; I felt like I’d taken a time machine back to the late 90s. Yeah! It was great. This was a fantastic show that I’m so glad I got to see.

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Good music in Louisville (29 mar 2011)

After school yesterday I drove the 200 mi to Louisville, Ky. to see Danielson and the Welcome Wagon play! The drive was grueling but completely worth it. I was very impressed with the venue, a place called the 930 Art Center in downtown Louisville. The room with the stage was comfortably intimate, and there were probably only 50 people in the audience. I had a spot in the front row.

The Welcome Wagon at the 930 Listening Room

The Welcome Wagon—who were in superb form, especially for a band that rarely tours—played a fantastic but too-short set, including a bunch of songs from their fantastic album Welcome to the Welcome Wagon, including my personal favorite, “Hail to the Lord’s Anointed”, and a handful of songs from the new album they are currently working on (!). All of the new songs they played were great, especially the finale, which I think was called “Until We Meet Again”.

But the best part of the whole thing was the LP that I was given! Halfway through their set, Vito said they were going to give away an album to the person who traveled the longest distance to come to the show. And that person was me! They gave me one of the limited-edition red vinyl albums that aren’t being sold anymore, and they were kind enough to autograph it for me. Really cute and wonderful people.

Danielson at the 930 Listening Room

And then there was Danielson, who exceeded my expectations. I like Danielson’s recorded music a whole lot, but I never imagined how fun they would be to see in person. It was very loud. The majority of the band’s set was songs from their new album, Best of Gloucester County. It was surprising to me how many of the people in the audience knew the lyrics and were singing along. I very much enjoyed being in the midst of fellow Danielson fans! I even took part in a conga line when the band played “People’s Partay”. It was a really enjoyable experience! Definitely worth the gross 6.5-hours of round trip drive-time.

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