smart-sane's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Keane Eye Watching: Preview for Monster-In-Law with Monsieur Vaughn. [Caution this entry contains a lot of links and they are mostly about me. Vain! But you know you want to clicky til the sun don't shine.] It's just like old times you guys. A long time ago, probably in a prior life, I had a little website called celebrateshon [I'd link it but there are some major debugging issues going on with it...aww what the heck, here you go] and there I wrote reviews, some of which got noticed and posted on little websites like even the White Stripes and Red Shirt Brigade, who told me they loved me! I was never one for committment so fast, and it all made me feel a little to big for my britches (not really), so I took a break, and when I went to return from my hiatus I forgot my password to update said concert reviews. And then I turned old. Seriously, I hadn't attended a concert since, well I snuck into Jack Johnson but that doesn't count. Before that? It's been ages ya'll. Like quarter of a century-type ages. But after last night's inspiration, the love and desire to write reviews is back. Have these reviews found a new home on Diaryland? We'll see. In the meantime I have got to find a way to save all of my pretty pretty reviews somewhere else cause I've got a feeling they are all going to be erased by Geocities and it's evil ways pretty soon. It's not my fault that I set up false identities on every website and can't remember my birthday, now is it?! Plus all of this stuff is going to be in my memoirs one day, and my offspring is going to be filthy rich. In the meantime....The Redwalls, The Zutons, and Keane @ Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor. It was such a perfect night, in retrospect I think you could smell it in the air. The drive down to Ann Arbor took less than a half hour, or maybe we just floated along on good conversation? But we pulled up no problem and I parked my sights on the Outfitters of the Urban. But such that it is, I never find the good stuff when the money is actually burning a hole in my pocket; I left unscathed. Over Blue Moon and 2/$1 legs we chatted each other up and felt Hills undeniable root canal pain. Ow! And then headed over to the Michigan Theater for the main event. It's really surreal to be in a venue such as the Michigan Theater that you know all the inner workings of due to inappropriate amounts of time spent there during the spring film festival, and then to find yourself on the other side, as a visitor being seated by an usher, who for the record? Had no clue where she was going. As soon as we sat down we were assaulted by the sounds of the Redwalls; four adorable boys in sunglasses and black skinny ties. It all felt very 1966 and perfect. The sounds weren't polished but that was part of their charm. They played a couple songs including one that was a big F-U to the FCC (it got a rousing applause, because this is damn-the-man-Ann-Arbor after all) and after the show they came up to the lobby to sign their CD sampler. If you're into downloading, I don't know what to tell you; their album is due out Spring 2005 and I don't know the title. But I know you'll do your best. We stood in line to get our $1 samplers signed and brushed up on my small talk. [Saw Jeans and Phil while we waited, hello boys!] In the show the Redwalls mentioned they were from Chicago, but I highly doubted that such cuteness could originate from such a place, although I did wonder a little when the first one asked me how to spell 'Tiffany.' But it doesn't matter the autographed results were bee-yoo-tiful. And they weren't born in Chicago (of course.) The one with the glasses piped up "Oh, I'm from Denver originally, and these guys... well, I don't know where they are from." Well of course not! They are just your bandmates! Silly. Next up was the Zutons. I was impressed by their road crew and how quickly they got set up and eased into the next act. I was mostly impressed because like an old person, I kept checking my watch and thinking, "I can't believe I have to go to work tomorrow, I hope this doesn't go too late. Maybe we can get some coffee for the road home." But with a swift set up I didn't have much time to dwell on the clock, and we were immediately immersed in the Zutons world. I loved them immediately, despite the dancing skeletal girl with the saxophone. My attraction may have been to the crazy Irish accents, or the instant familiarity of almost all of their songs, or the drummer with the serious Jewfro. I can't be sure. All I know is that they made me get up out my seat, and dance til I felt better. Actually, I didn't dance, and I got out of my seat only because of prodding by the drummer and the Amazon frenchy standing in front of me. Nevertheless I stood and it wasn't Keane, okay? If you're into downloading, I'd definitely checkout the Zutons "Pressure Point" and "You Will You Wont" which had one of my favorite lines, "You say you love the day, but you only come out at night." Freak! The laziness of the Internet has really help me develop my already musically-speaking lazy attitude. I've felt before and now more than ever that if a band is on to something, they can prove it to me live, and then I'll think about buying their CD. I had ripped a copy of Hills Hopes and Fears but as far as I was concerned, it was go-time for a little band called Keane on that stage this night. And go they did. Fast. Ahead of the pack. And blew me away. Tom Chaplin, the lead singer, has the face of an 8-year old boy. But don't let that face fool you. The man's voice is unbelievable. He hit the notes with ease. While the music is borderline chill, the concert was anything but. To quote both Hills and Harms, it was nothing less than "inspiring." To do what, that depends on the person, but inspirational nonetheless. They did everything right: they were gracious, they did the right amount of audience interaction and explained the meaning of songs when they needed them. (Like "Somewhere Only We Know" means so much more to me now. Before I thought it was pretty but now it makes me cry. This could be the end of everything!) Tom worked the white belt, and I took his black western inspired shirt as a shoutout, since I had my blue cowboy shirt on. Huzzah to you Keane! The beer is on me anytime. The piano player, Tim Rice-Oxley, rocked his little heart out; I don't think he could've played any harder if it was a guitar with six strings in his hand. I also loved the old-school piano he had in addition to the Yamaha keyboards. And I would be remiss to not mention the drummer Rich Hughes, who without we would have no beat to dance to. Unless you are that lady in the turquoise halter top, because then, who needs that crazy beat anyway? A band with just a beautiful voice, a piano and solid drums? I could get used to that sound. It would be impossible for me to name a couple of tracks that were my favorite live, because I don't know the name of most (right now I'm too busy to look up and make up) and a couple of my favorites were new that they have been working on (like that one he said is about letting someone you love know that they can't keep letting you down) but if you want some safe bets, then just go buy the whole CD. Because it's all good. And yes, I said "buy" you tricky downloaders. It's a novel word to me too but both Keane and The Zutons earned it on this night. Okay I can't find the song titles but here are some of my favorite lyrics. From Everybody's Changing: So little time And from We Might As Well Be Strangers: I don't know your thoughts these days The last one I'll save for below. Quoting: Somewhere Only We Know, by Keane. I'm getting old and I need something to rely on So tell me when you're gonna let me in I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin And if you have a minute why don't we go 1:25 p.m. - 02-17-05 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
||||||
|
||||||