Tag Archives: Newport Folk Festival

October 1, 2019 · 2:06 PM

Hiss Golden Messenger

Saturday, August 10, 2019

One Longfellow Square, Portland, Maine

My friend Kenny T is a diehard Hiss Golden Messenger fan. Actually, a lot of guys who love music in my life love Hiss Golden Messenger, too. Without knowing any of his music, I decided to head to One Longfellow Square in Portland on a summer Saturday night to check him out for myself. There were a lot of dudes in the audience. Like, a lot. I nabbed a second row center seat, chatted with my neighbor about the Newport Folk Festival, and got ready to see what’s so great about HGM. I always prefer a solo performer and a guitar, and apparently that’s not the norm for HGM shows, so I was lucky to see MC Taylor up close and stripped down to a man, a guitar, and his songs.

MC told us that he married a Mainer and plays these shows annually when they’re here to visit family. He joked that he knew we’d be a discerning crowd, so he had to put a little work in–“it’s just a lot of words, you know?” And he was spot on. HGM songs are complex, wordy poems accompanied by guitar. I felt like not knowing the lyrics in advance was a disadvantage. I would have needed to read his songbook in advance to get the full force of what MC was trying to express. It was crystal clear that other folks in the audience adored MC and these songs. I appreciate that the songs meant so much to my fellow concert goers, though I don’t think I’m a convert.

MC said his new album Terms of Surrender is full of songs that started out in the same way with just him and his guitar in a room. He said he could remember the conception of all of the songs. He told us about writing the album last year. He said:

Last year was a tricky year for many of us. I was at loose ends. I was needing to find something. So I checked around looking for a place I could take some instruments and go write for a few days and I happened upon this cottage in the foothills of Virginia and the people that owned that land were kind enough to let me come up. I brought some guitars, recording equipment, and mushrooms with me. Not a lot, just a little bit. Not enough to lose my mind. I ate a little bit and walked to this deserted hillside. It was really cold and absolutely gorgeous and I felt thankful to be there. I was watching the sunset and then I heard the voices of children playing and I thought the mushrooms were hitting me because the place was absolutely deserted. I stood there just listening to these kids play, and instead of being terrified, I just enjoyed being in this in between place where I didn’t know if I was having a hallucination or not. Turns out, there were kids through the trees. There was a house through the trees I hadn’t seen before. They were just playing and having a normal day. However, it helped me write this song (“My Wing”). I came back into the house and wrote it really fast. It was probably the first song that was written for this new record called Terms of Surrender. When I got in touch with the people to see if I could come stay there they said, ‘yes you really should, we have two wild cats up here. One is called Hiss and the other is called Golden Messenger.’ What unwieldy names for cats.

MC paid tribute to David Berman from the Silver Jews who’d died a few days earlier. He covered “Dallas” by the Silver Jews and said:

We lost a great, great writer and musician this week named David Berman. He was a writer and an incredible poet and musician and had a band called the Silver Jews. He had a tough life, but he was a genius. When I bought my first Silver Jews record in 1996, really listening to the words he was singing cracked my head open in the best way and showed me you could be a true poet. I don’t think there was anyone in my musical universe around my same age that had a way with words quite like him. He was the best we had, I would say. The thing that’s so good about his music and his writing is that it’s hilarious and devastatingly sad at the same time. That’s what life feels like. 

The first track on MC’s new album is “I Need a Teacher.” He told us:

I have a lot of teachers in my family–my parents were both public school teachers. My wife is a public school teacher. My sister is a high school counselor. My kids both go to public school. I’ve been surrounded by teachers my entire life. When I wrote this tune, I wasn’t thinking specifically about public school teachers, but the video went down to the teacher walkout in Raleigh, North Carolina where I live. Teachers were out in force protesting for better pay and support for their students, our kids. Seems like a no brainer to me. So I asked the video director, my friend Derek, a complicated mission. He put together the pieces and thought to send a film crew to the rally. I said “if you can make a video that makes me cry, I’m all for it.” I was weeping when I watched the first edit of the video. Are there any teachers in the crowd tonight? Thank you all for doing that. That’s a hard, hard job. A lot harder than what I’m doing. This is for you guys. 

I raised my hand when MC asked if there were any teachers in the audience and we made eye contact. It was so nice to be thanked publicly for being a teacher. This moment really won me over. 

I looked up the set lists for both nights, and very few (if any) songs were repeated from the first HGM show on Friday night to the next. I think that’s awesome. It was also pretty clear that the folks in the crowd were devoted fans and many attended both nights. 

I loved MC’s story about “Happy Birthday, Baby”:

I have a daughter named Ione and she’s six years old and really feeling her oats now. I think she’s doing what I think that means. When she was about to turn five years old, she caught a snippet from “Biloxi”–‘six years old and truth be told you’re the only one’–was a bit of a birthday song for my son who is four years older than her. She got angry and didn’t like that song and said it wasn’t fair that I ‘played that song for Elijah.’ There is a song on the record called Ione’s song, but she didn’t know that, or maybe she didn’t like that song. So I told her I’d write her a song for her birthday. I wrote a song called “Happy Birthday, Baby” just to make it absolutely clear. I finished it and recorded it in my studio and added extra parts and the whole family was there and she listened intently and when it was done she said ‘thank you. It’s good. Let’s have cake.’ Since I’ve gone around the globe playing a song for Ione’s birthday I realize it’s probably more a song for me than for her and I hope she will grow into this tune. 

MC introduced his last song–“Caledonia, My Love”–telling us this song was one of those rare ones that fell into his lap. Before he played, he sincerely thanked us for being there. I enjoyed how humble and kind MC Taylor was, and how clearly he respected and appreciated his fans. He closed the night saying:

Thank you all for being here and for letting me do this job and to listening to these songs for so many years. It’s unbelievable to me that I get to do this. Whatever existential drama I go through on a day to day basis trying to be a poet and play an acoustic guitar, I am so deeply grateful to you for coming and listening to these songs. 

I am glad I checked Hiss Golden Messenger out for myself. I appreciated his sincerity and humility. I’m not sure I fell in love with his songs, but I could see so clearly that many people have, and I’m glad for them. It’s important to have music in your life that matters to you. MC Taylor has clearly provided that for a lot of people.

xo,

bree

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August 9, 2019 · 7:09 PM

Parker Millsap

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Lisbon Concerts in the Park, Lisbon Falls, Maine

Lots of my friends posted updates from their weekend at Newport Folk Festival that made me incredibly jealous–especially because Brandi Carlile was a guest in just about everyone’s set AND DOLLY PARTON WAS THE SURPRISE FESTIVAL GUEST! It made me wish I’d been there in person. I did, however, have a delightful little Sunday with Dan where we took the introduction to cheesemaking class at the wonderful Sunflower Farm in Cumberland and even got to milk goats! It was fun and delicious! I realized the timing would work out perfectly for me to leave the farm and get over to Lisbon Falls just in time to see Parker Millsap at their free Concerts in the Park series. I texted my friend Christine to meet me, and hurried over.

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Photos courtesy of Hope Lipp Hall at Sunflower Farm

Parker Millsap had quite a weekend. From tiny Purcell, Oklahoma and at only 26 years old, Parker played the main stage at the Newport Folk Festival on Friday. And then, two days later, he played a free outdoor concert in tiny Lisbon Falls, Maine, to a couple hundred folks gathered in lawn chairs at Marion Morse Park. What a juxtaposition. Chrissy and I set up our chairs and caught up a little bit about our summer vacations. We both had delicious strawberry and nutella waffles from the My Waffle food truck. I was glad to see Parker Millsap and his band for the first time. He has a strong raspy voice and a bluesy rock sound. Check out his KEXP session if you’re unfamiliar with his sound. Parker didn’t say much more than “thank you very much” after each song, which is what makes or breaks a concert experience for me, but it’s probably pretty hard to keep your stage energy up after a weekend at Newport Folk Festival. I’d be curious to hear from folks who’ve seen him before if he brings a more raucous vibe to a more typical show. I’d like to see him again in an indoor venue, I think. 

xo,

bree

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January 25, 2019 · 2:36 PM

Kacey Musgraves with Natalie Prass

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

State Theatre, Portland, Maine

Kacey Musgraves was just announced as an addition to the Newport Folk Festival lineup this summer. The Newport Festivals Foundation will be supporting her alma mater–Mineola High School in Texas–by purchasing new instruments for the band program there, too. Kacey said she grew up in a tiny Texas town at the show, and Google tells me that the population of Mineola was 4,515 in 2010, so she’s no liar.

I got to see Kacey Musgraves last week at State Theatre, and she was a delight. I went on faith–having only heard her song “Slow Burn,” but she’s received so many accolades for songwriting that I decided I needed to be there for what will surely be her first and only State Theatre show. The show was sold out because Kacey is already well-known in the country music world (I think? I wouldn’t know, really), but Sean and I both got half priced tickets on StubHub so we could be there.

Natalie Prass opened. She looked like Rainbow Brite in a pleather blue dress, and her band was all dress in blue, too. She told us she was from Richmond, Virginia, but has lived in Nashville for almost a decade and that she’d played the State Theatre twice before with other groups. I looked it up, and she’d been the keyboardist in Jenny Lewis’ band. Natalie worked the crowd and had spunk. I recognized “Short Court Style” from 98.9 WCLZ.

The break between acts was pretty long, and it was because Kacey’s staging was awesome. She took the stage dramatically by climbing up a staircase and suddenly appearing with a spotlight behind her while she opened with “Slow Burn.”The crowd went wild. Kacey is beautiful. She wore sequins. Her songs have heart and honesty and a spirit of inclusion. She kind of took me by surprise, because that’s not the vibe country music gives off. Kacey said as much when she introduced “Follow Your Arrow.” She said something like, “country music isn’t very inclusive, and I say ‘fuck that!’” She also thanked her band (who were dress all in maroon with turtlenecks and gold chains) and touring staff profusely for all of their hard work to “get the job done” and her fans for being there for her.

Kacey told us that Golden Hour, her 2018 album that won CMA’s Album of the Year, is all about falling in love with her husband, Ruston Kelly. WCLZ has also been playing his song, “Mockingbird,” and he’ll be opening for the incredible Patty Griffin at the Music Hall in Portsmouth on April 7. I already have my ticket, and am eager to see him live, too. “Butterflies” is certainly about their relationship.

The crowd sang “Merry Go ‘Round” together, and that and “Follow Your Arrow” were two of my favorites from the night. Both are from Kacey’s debut album, Same Trailer Different Park. I appreciate how she encourages people to be themselves and to ignore haters in “Follow Your Arrow,” singing–“If you can’t lose the weight/Then you’re just fat/But if you lose too much/Then you’re on crack/You’re damned if you do/And you’re damned if you don’t/So you might as well just do/Whatever you want.” That song was definitely a crowd favorite of the night, and Kacey ended her set with it right after a fabulous cover of “I Will Survive” that Natalie Prass sang with her.

Kacey played a three-song encore, starting with “Rainbow,” which is gorgeous song. The lights changed and the room lit up in rainbow colors while everyone sang along to these lyrics–”But you’re stuck out in the same old storm again/You hold tight to your umbrella, darlin’ I’m just tryin’ to tell ya’That there’s always been a rainbow hangin’ over your head.” Did I mention that this was an uplifting show? It really was. She closed her encore set with “High Horse,” which is a favorite of mine from Golden Hour.

Writing this almost two weeks later, I’d almost forgotten about the drunk girls who took selfies and talked through the whole show who stood (inevitably) right in front of me and Sean! OH! And one of then cried for a while (not about the touching songs) while her friends consoled her. Concert goers–chat with your friends and cry your eyes out if you want–but do it in the back of the room!

Kacey’s already too famous to be playing a venue as intimate as the State Theatre, so I’m pumped I got to be in the room for this one!

xo,

bree

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December 16, 2018 · 8:14 PM

Darlingside with Henry Jamison

Saturday, December 8, 2018

Port City Music Hall, Portland, Maine

This was a pretty spectacular Saturday. My friend Kay is fostering kittens (!), and Dan and I got to spend some time snuggling with them in the morning. I made Christmas cookies and watched A Christmas Prince (again) with my girlfriends and adorable almost one-year-old baby Norah, and had a delicious homemade dinner at Dan’s before the show. It was a really good day already, and the icing on the cake was getting to see Darlingside for their once-a-year Maine show.

I made my way over to Port City Music Hall just before 8. I ran into my buddy Aimsel Ponti at the door and met up with Colin and Sean up front along the stage for Darlingside and Henry Jamison. I saw Darlingside for the first time at One Longfellow Square back in 2012 and they impressed me with their rich harmonies and warm audience interaction. This was my eighth Darlingside show, and they are always a pleasure to see live.

I just missed seeing Henry Jamison live back in 2012 at The Oak + The Ax in Biddeford, Maine. I arrived late for a Joe Fletcher and brown bird co-headlining show, just as his Bowdoin College-era band, The Milkman’s Union, was wrapping up their set. I recognized Henry when he took the stage from his days living in Portland working at One Longfellow Square, and it was cool to see that he has become a known musician with a devoted following in the last few years.

Henry Jamison is a Burlington, Vermont native with a massive vocabulary and skillful, layered songs. He chatted warmly with the attentive crowd. He told us he’d done a bit the last few days where he introduced the members of Darlingside by revealing which Winnie the Pooh characters represented them best. He was joined on stage by Eric Maier on keys, Walker Allen on drums, and Willoughby Morse on guitar, and I liked the fullness of sound they produced together.

IMG_6773.jpgI’d never heard a Henry Jamison song before this show, and his songs are heavy and cerebral. I enjoyed him live. I looked him up after the show and saw a lot of praise for his debut album, The Wilds. The Guardian called it “a rare thing:  an unshowy, literate gem.” Henry joked about being the cover of the Portland Phoenix. The title of the article is “The Man, The Myth.” Henry joked that “the myth is that anybody knows about me.” I learned that Henry’s song “Real Peach,” which he closed his set with, has over 40 million streams on Spotify.

Henry’s next album, Gloria Duplex, comes out in February. Promotional material about the album from his publicist’s website says it’s “Henry’s razor sharp-focused look at masculinity in 2018.” I was also not at all surprised after seeing him live to also learn that his father is a classical composer and his mother an English professor. The apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree as far as vocation goes.

Darlingside took the stage to a pretty full house. I had time between sets to chat with Elise (who I’d met in the very same spot up front last fall at an intimate show with Shovels & Rope) and her sweetie, Stuart, who’d never seen Darlingside before. Darlingside is Don Mitchell, Auyon Mukharji, Harris Paseltiner, and Dave Senft. Their star is especially rising in 2018 with their first NPR Tiny Desk Concert, first appearance at the Newport Folk Festival, and a run of tour dates opening for Brandi Carlile. Dave thanked Henry for opening the show and told us–“I listen to Elton John when I’m happy and I listen to Henry Jamison when I’m sad, so I’ve come to associate Henry with my own sadness,” which I thought was a beautiful compliment, really.

The guys are a united front and are clearly great friends. They met at Williams College and have been a group for nearly a decade. Sam Kapala, their drummer for the first four or five years as a band, lives in Portland and was at the show, too. Without Sam, Darlingside is four guys with string instruments (and an occasional kick drum and tambourine) around a single microphone. I’d call their genre indie-folk, which is why what happened next was especially frustrating.

Here are a two paragraphs about concert etiquette. We’d all noticed at the end of Henry’s set that two women next to us who were standing at the end of the front row against the far wall were talking a fair amount. It’s always confusing to me when people buy concert tickets and have full voice conversations near the stage when musicians are performing. It’s disrespectful to the artists and to their fans. Someone near us finally said something to them. He asked them to please stop talking so we could hear the band. I heard it. It was innocuous. One of the women broke down sobbing in response. She sobbed for five straight songs. I haven’t seen anything like it at a show. Her sobs were almost as loud as her talking was, and we could all still sadly hear her over the band.

Another group of people pushed their way to the front between sets as people often do. If you really love a band, you should always get to the venue early and get a spot you’re happy with. It’s not fair to fans who arrived early to push your way through the crowd and cut in front of anyone. In this case, a family with young children was front row center, and this trio pushed their way right up to them and hovered immediately over them for the rest of the night. You might assume this move meant they really love and respect the band and wanted to be closer, but I know from experience that it usually doesn’t. They chatted loudly with one another from their front row center spot immediately underneath the band while Darlingside played and while fans nearby tried to listen. When members of the band bantered with the crowd, one of the women in the group responded back very loudly to every single comment as if she was having a private conversation with them. Don’t be that fan who demands attention from the band and interrupts their flow. Wait until after the show and say hello to the band at the merch table instead.

I’ve got to say that for a folk-ish show, I had a really hard time staying focused on the music, and I was touching the stage in the front row near the band. An audience has the power to make or break a concert experience. Towards the end of their lovely set (distracted or not, they’re amazing), Darlingside unplugged and jumped off stage to play a new song from the center of the room in the crowd. They’d played many songs from their 2018 album, Extralife, but closed with “God of Loss,” which is a favorite of mine. They came back to the stage and left us with “Best of the Best of Times” from Extralife, and you’ve got to check out the awesome (as always) video.

IMG_6785IMG_6796IMG_6805IMG_6818Darlingside is always a treat to see live and I feel lucky we’re still able to see them at an intimate venue like Port City Music Hall. See you guys next year!

xo,

bree

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September 26, 2018 · 10:28 AM

Joseph with Kelsey Kopecky

Monday, September 17, 2018

Port City Music Hall, Portland, Maine

This night was exactly what I needed. It was such a pleasure to see a band for the first time whose music I love in a room full of people who were actually listening. That should be the norm for a crowd at a show, but sadly, it typically isn’t. To my fellow show-goers–thank you for this night. I was so happy to share this night with you.

I made it to Port City Music Hall just after show opener Kelsey Kopecky took the stage. I recognized the name and Kelsey mentioned she’d played in Portland years ago opening for Michael Franti with her former band, the Kopecky Family Band, which I’d heard of. Kelsey has a pretty voice, but her banter was sometimes awkward and her songs all hit the same note to me. She made a lot of jokes about “her band,” which she called “Alexa and Siri.” I liked her cover of “Kids” by MGMT. She seems like someone learning how to be a solo act and even solicited ideas for a new band name and told us some of her mom’s suggestions.

Kelsey Kopecky

I had been wanting to see Oregon’s sister trio Joseph for years. I missed them at Newport Folk Festival in 2017 (I had a ticket, but didn’t get to go), but my friend Marian saw them up close there in a tiny show and sent me a video so I knew I’d really missed out. I’d seen a few stressful, crowded shows over the summer, so it was particularly lovely to get to stand right up front along the stage just feet away from the band. It was so nice to get to see and hear at a show for a change.img_6046img_6035Joseph–sisters Natalie Closner Schepman, Allison Closner, and Meegan Closner–are something special. Their harmonies are beautiful, their songs full of heart and honesty, and their stage presence is captivating. I was so glad a handful of friends also came out to see them, because this is a band people really should know. Here’s their NPR Tiny Desk concert, an interview they did that gives good background, and a cover song they performed with Zach Williams from The Lone Bellow (a top favorite band of mine) at their 2017 stop at Newport Folk Festival.

I appreciated that Natalie, Allison, and Meegan shared what some of their songs were about with us. I love it when artists do that at a show. I was particularly glad to hear “White Flag” and “I Don’t Mind” live. Natalie wrote a touching song about her best friend’s baby and the overwhelming feeling of love you have for a newborn and the idea, also, that no matter who who we become, we all started out as innocent as a tiny baby. Natalie gave a shout out to her friend Amber who she used to work with at Starbucks in Portland, Oregon. Amber brought her awesome service dog, Winston, who enjoyed the show with his headphones on right up front. He was the cutest!

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Do you see Winston?

Kelsey joined Joseph on stage for a beautiful, timely cover of “Everybody Wants To Rule The World,” too. This was such a lovely night. I noticed well into Joseph’s set that I couldn’t hear anything else but them. It’s so rare at a show these days, but we were into them. I sure hope they’ll be back.

xo,

bree

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September 4, 2018 · 12:18 PM

Dashboard Confessional

Friday, August 24, 2018

Maine State Pier, Portland, Maine

I bought a house this summer, which meant that I canceled a solid month of concert-going to renovate and move, including a trip to the Newport Folk Festival. I couldn’t, however, skip seeing Dashboard Confessional at the Maine State Pier, which says a lot, because the Pier is a terrible venue and I was slammed. If you’re in your late 30s, you might also be at the right age for Dashboard Confessional to have been important to you at a transition point in your life. Their 2001 album, The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most, has been my go-to break up album for almost 20 years.

I spent the afternoon with my friend Jan at Reid State Park and then scooted down to Portland to catch Dashboard’s set. The person I talked to at the ticket booth was friendly, which is about the only positive interaction I’ve ever had with a staff member at the Pier, so it deserves a mention. I ran into one of my former students and her big sister and caught up for a bit, and then grabbed my spot in front of the barricade to take photos for the first three songs of Dashboard’s set.

If you have nostalgic feelings about Dashboard, then this was a pretty okay show. If you didn’t, I bet you thought their set fell flat. Chris Carrabba’s got a lot of screechy high notes to hit in his songs, so he balances that with a lot of chatting with the audience. He also gave personal introductions of every member of the band. Chris knows his audience well by now, and said, “some of you guys were in drama and got beat up like me. If we all feel weird together, we don’t have to feel weird alone.” I was so glad to hear “Again I Go Unnoticed,” “Saints and Sailors,” and “Screaming Infidelities” early in their 14-song set. To introduce “Screaming Infidelities,” Chris said “come on kids–we’re going crying.”

IMG_6392Chris said Weezer was the first band to believe in Dashboard Confessional, so they covered “Say It Ain’t So” to thank them. I didn’t like the new song for this tour–“Kinda Yeah Sorta,” but Dashboard hasn’t been putting a ton of music out in the last decade, so I’ll forgive it. Chris talked a lot between songs, and his messages were about inclusion and kindness. To introduce “We Fight,” he said “we are all accepting of each other’s differences in this space. I don’t know what’s going on with the rest of the world, but I beg you to show them what we are doing right. Let’s make a better world for ourselves and our children.”

IMG_6497I made my way to the rear of the audience to watch the full moon behind the stage light up the sky. Chris played “Hands Down,” which he always says is about the “best day he’s ever had in his whole life” to end their set. I was glad to hear some of these songs that mean a lot to me in person again, and was happy to get to do that nearby in Portland on a gorgeous night.

xo,

bree

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August 2, 2018 · 10:05 AM

Brandi Carlile and Jason Isbell

Saturday, July 21, 2018

Thompson’s Point, Portland, Maine

This night was an absolute blast! I’d planned to see Brandi and Jason the following weekend at the Newport Folk Festival, but bought a house and my closing date was too near. I actually didn’t have a ticket for this show because I’d planned on a bachelorette weekend getaway with girlfriends, but I needed to stay home and pack, so treated myself to a night out with one of my top favorite musicians. The show had sold out before I knew I needed a ticket, but my friend Aimsel connected me with a ticket, and even though she got to go to Brandi’s soundcheck and had a VIP ticket for the show, she popped over to fourth row center to hang out with Colin and me for a little bit before the show.

I got to Thompson’s Point at 5PM to be in line for doors at 6PM. There was already quite a long line when I arrived. Folks chatted happily in line, and I met Kristen, Caitlin, and Remy–a mom and her two daughters–who were also long-time Brandi fans (my first Brandi show was back in 2005). I caught Remy’s eye later in the crowd and we waved from across the fourth row, and we also bumped into each other and debriefed as we head out of the show later.

Colin and I grabbed an incredible fourth row center spot and met Steve and Donna, Zach (who’d come from Iowa), Lisa, and her 11-year-old nephew, Noah. We bonded and chatted for an hour and I was pretty psyched about the pocket of great people we’d ended up with.

Jason Isbell and his band, which sometimes, but on this night included his gorgeous wife, Amanda Shires, took the stage right on time. I’d never seen Jason live, but I love his songs. I especially liked “24 Frames,” “White Man’s World,” and “Cover Me Up.” He sounded great and they played a fun set for us, with a guest appearance from Brandi and her daughter Evangeline, too. I’d hoped Jason would be more of a storyteller in person, but he really let his songs speak for him and didn’t talk to us except to introduce members of the band. Jason Isbell threw a pick into the crowd and it came right for me. It bounced off my hand and right to the nice woman behind me who was a much bigger fan and I was glad I’d helped it get to her.

I knew the crowd would shift in between acts, but things got messy for us up front quickly once Jason left the stage. We were prepared to stick together, but I was surprised by how many people tried the “my friend is up there” line and the physical force to push their way forward route. I was particularly surprised because Brandi exudes love, and I was disappointed that so many fans used force to push their way up. I was most surprised that the people who pushed me were women in their 50s. The woman behind me was rightly furious that people pushed in front of her, and she let folks know. Many argued “this is a rock show” and “it’s general admission!” I had a woman (also in her 50s) press every inch of her body against my backside to try to push me forward. I told her to stop touching me and asked her if she was embarrassed by her behavior. She told me– “I’m completely at peace.” People are gross sometimes. Even Brandi fans. *If you haven’t arrived early to earn your spot up front, it’s not yours to take later. Concert etiquette 101.* Of course the women who pushed their way up front talked through the rest of the show and didn’t seem to pay much attention at all, which is *exactly* what I’d expected from folks that rude in the first place. Bad concert karma to them!

We settled into our pressed, but mostly intact group for Brandi, and tried to let the frustration of the full court press wash over us (it was hardest for me, I’m sure, because I’m a teacher and bad behavior is maddening). Brandi and the twins and their band took the stage, and the night improved quite quickly. They opened with “Every Time I Hear That Song” and the audience was immediately caught up in their energy.

Most of Brandi’s “the” songs–“The Eye,” “The Mother,” and “The Joke” came back-to-back and they’re all stunning in their own right. Brandi told us that “The Mother” is about her daughter Evangeline, but it’s really about everybody’s Evangeline. Brandi introduced “Sugartooth” by telling us that “everybody is somebody’s baby, some of them have fallen on really hard times. Nobody is just a criminal or an incarcerated person or a junkie.” Their cover of “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You” left me SPEECHLESS. I’d heard them play it back in May in Boston, but I was too far away at that show, so this was a totally different thing to hear it up close and personal. Brandi told us that “Party of One” is about a fight with a spouse, and the lyrics ring true–“Don’t even think about your freedom / Or taking that flight / Or going back upon your promise after fighting for the right / Because your eggshells and your right statements and your weaponized words / Are paper tigers now.” The tone took a sharp change after when Brandi and the twins left us with “Hold Out Your Hand.” The sold out crowd was in unison as we sang and clapped along, which I think we all needed.

No one really does a live show as well as Brandi, Tim, and Phil, and I am so grateful that I got to be right up close to feel all the goodness they showered on us that night!

xo,

bree

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June 3, 2018 · 9:29 PM

Brandi Carlile with The Secret Sisters

Saturday, May 5, 2018

Orpheum Theatre, Boston

I hadn’t planned on going to this show because I’m really over the logistical hassles that come with any Boston show, but my best friend very thoughtfully bought me two tickets for this show for Christmas because she knows how much I love Brandi Carlile. I thought about selling the tickets because they were in the back of the room at Orpheum and I have a pretty firm 10 rows or less from the stage rule (I’m visually impaired and seeing performers’ faces matters to me), but I decided to make a weekend of it. I bet that’s probably just what my bestie was hoping I’d do, because this show just happened to fall on my birthday weekend.

My awesome friend Dot and I took the bus from Portland to Boston (we saw Malia Obama in the Concord Trailways station, too), had a delicious lunch in Chinatown, checked in early to our beautiful room at the Revere Hotel Boston Common, explored Boston Common on a perfect, sunny day, grabbed a drink on our hotel’s gorgeous rooftop deck, had a very uncomfortable dinner sitting next to a drunk husband verbally attacking his wife, recovered with a bonus stop for coffee and a lemon tart, and made it to Orpheum with time to spare to catch up with my pal Aimsel Ponti.

Aimsel had a great seat for the Friday night show, and she was so taken (duh, it’s Brandi), that she decided to buy a seat for the next night online, too. Aimsel’s seats both nights were about a thousand rows (okay, more like 25) in front of ours, so her show experience was much different than mine. 

Dot had never heard of The Secret Sisters, but I’ve seen them a handful of times now, and knew she’d enjoy their harmonies and pretty songs. Their most recent album, You Don’t Own Me Anymore, was produced by Brandi Carlile and earned them a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album. I’ve read interviews that The Secret Sisters almost quit making music after their label dropped them, but Brandi swooped in and fought hard for them to keep going. The crowd was sadly pretty chatty in the Orpheum all night, so it was hard for me to stay connected to either performance, which was quite disappointing.

Brandi Carlile and the twins–Phil and Tim Hanseroth–slayed like they always do. They give 110% every night, for sure, but I was sitting so far away from them that I really couldn’t see their faces. That, and people around me talked all night, and a handful of people a few rows in front of me decided to stand for the bulk of the show, so those of us behind them had to stand, and that just made it hard for me to see the stage and feel like part of a concert experience. Clearly, this was my least favorite Brandi show (this one was my favorite), but it had literally nothing to do with Brandi and the band–which included a lot storytelling (which I love), a string and horn section, and even The Secret Sisters on background vocals for some of the night.

Brandi said “if ever there was a band that should have been called something else, it’s this one, because there’s no lead singer” to introduce the stunning three part harmonies of “The Eye.” To introduce “The Mother” Brandi told us that most of the advice she’d gotten before becoming a mom didn’t ring true for her, and “if you’re thinking about having kids, give it some thought, because it will fundamentally shift your life.”

Brandi told us that “Phil was up late one night reading the news about an unidentified woman’s body found in a field in Georgia and no one never claimed her body. She was 30 years old and she’d given birth to someone at some point in her life. She had a tattoo of Jesus on her hand. It bothered him so much, that someone could leave the world without a proper name, that he wrote her a song”–“Fulton County Jane Doe.”

It took me a few songs to realize that they played every song from their new, deeply personal album, By the Way, I Forgive You, which included string arrangements by Paul Buckmaster, who passed away unexpectedly before the album was released. Brandi introduced “Party Of One” by telling us it was the last string arrangement Paul ever wrote, and that “I’ll never play it without thinking of him.” Brandi and the band cleared the stage, to thunderous applause.

They returned for a three song encore, and Brandi dedicated “Hold Out Your Hand” to the youth leading the March For Our Lives moment and to “all who amplify their voices.” You HAVE to watch the video for that song that came out last week. I cried. Laura, Lydia, and Brandi closed the night with a stunning a cappella version of “Amazing Grace,” which hit just the right note and sent us home with hope in our hearts.

I’ll see Brandi and the twins again this summer at Newport Folk Festival. I can’t wait to see them again, with what will surely be a far more attentive audience. This audience, from where I sat, didn’t deserve the show it got. We can do better, y’all.

xo,

bree

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May 3, 2018 · 7:42 AM

Rodriguez with Lily & Madeleine

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

State Theatre, Portland, Maine

I saw Searching for Sugar Man in 2012. It’s the true story of SixtoRodriguez–a singer-songwriter from Detroit who made a couple of folk albums in the 1970s that didn’t reach much of an audience in the US. What he didn’t know, though, was that his album Cold Fact made it to Apartheid-era South Africa, where he outsold Elvis Presley. Rodriguez had droves of dedicated fans in South Africa, but he never knew that and his South African fans didn’t know how to find him or even if he was alive. For two solid decades, while Rodriguez worked in construction and political activism, he was famous in South Africa. His fans tracked him down in the 1990s and it revived Rodriguez’s music career. I missed him by an hour in 2012 at the Newport Folk Festival and this show was scheduled for nearly a year ago, but was postponed. Six years after learning about him, and with Sixto Rodriguez clocking in at 75 years old, I finally had this opportunity to see him in person. I think most of us in the room knew we were lucky to be there.

Sisters Lily & Madeleine Jurkiewicz from Indianapolis opened the show with sparse, pretty songs and perfect sibling harmony. They were grateful for a listening audience, and sang a handful songs for us before turning the stage over to Rodriguez. I imagine it would be extra nerve-wracking to open a show for a legend, but they seemed calm and collected. Lily & Madeleine played piano and guitar, and have been recording together since 2013. Check out their 2014 NPR Tiny Desk Concert (Bob notes that they’re one of the youngest groups ever to record a session) to see what they’re about.

I was so glad I splurged on a second row seat at State Theatre so I could be closer to Rodriguez on stage. The whole night felt like sitting in a relative’s kitchen over coffee–including rants about politics, jokes, and storytelling. Given how hard he’s worked his whole life, I should have expected that Rodriguez shows his age. A couple of people helped him get out on stage, got him comfortable on his stool, positioned the microphone near his mouth, and set his two cups of tea (with lids) down on the table immediately next to him. He wore sunglasses all night, and it was obvious from where I was sitting that his vision is severely compromised at best. He’d touch the microphone to feel how close it was to his mouth. I noticed he’d feel around the lid of his cups of tea to find the slot to drink from. I thought about how much easier his life might have been if he’d been discovered for his talent in the US in the 70s, too, but I don’t think Rodriguez is worried about that at all. He joked that he uses his “senior advantage.”

He described himself as a “musical politico,” and added, “so you know what’s coming. Mr President–you’re under arrest. I have five soldiers in my family. Mexican people serve. And it would be wrong of me to not acknowledge their service in light of a draft dodger. My mother and father were both Mexican. And I know the meaning of the word indigenous.” The crowd roared in support. Well, most of the crowd did. Some of the crowd didn’t like his comments at all, which makes me think they didn’t know what show they’d bought tickets for.

Rodriguez played his own songs–“Inner City Blues,”“Crucify Your Mind,”“I Wonder,” and “Sugar Man” come to mind–and plenty of covers. He played Elton John’s “Your Song” early in the night. The timing wasn’t perfect, and I think some of the lyrics were wrong, but there was something mesmerizing about watching Rodriguez on stage doing his folky thing. The thing I love about folk music is that it tells stories about the truth, and Rodriguez did plenty of that. Some people in the crowd from the other side of the aisle surely thought he talked about politics way too much. Rodriguez had a lot to say, including “I’ve run for state representative of Michigan, Detroit city council, and I’ve also run for my life.” He said, “We need more women to run for public offices because we can see quite clearly that men can do it.” Again, most of the crowd loved it. Some did not.

Rodriguez had a table literally full of different hats on a small table right next to him. He’d feel around the table for a new hat after some of his songs and changed hats a handful of times throughout the night. Maybe they each put him in a different mood for particular songs he played? I don’t know, but it was kind of his “thing” that night. He cracked jokes some, too, and told us that “the secret to life is just to keep breathing in and out.”

I need to mention that the guy sitting next to me, who’d driven six hours from New Brunswick, Canada, paid $75 for his second row seat, and was SUPER DRUNK during the show. It was obnoxious. He literally fell out of his seat from a seated position. He trying to engage with people sitting around him, including me, but he was shouting. I don’t understand why people make the effort to get to a show if they’re not going to remember it after the fact. For the most part, though, the audience was notably attentive and respectful. When the guy next to me shouted at me “WHY IS NO ONE UP AND DANCING?” I was able to whisper to him, “because this is a FOLK CONCERT.”

Rodriguez talked a lot–certainly as much as he played. He named some places in the world where the people united to fight back against oppressive rulers–including Mexico, France, and South Africa–and told us that “oppression results in revolution.” Someone in the crowd shouted back “NELSON MANDELA BOMBED CHILDREN.” There was a strange pause in the room where I think many of us just tried to figure out why someone who was anti-Mandela paid $75 for a ticket to see Rodriguez in person. His music is so obviously about taking on the establishment.  Rodriguez replied, “know your enemy, man.” When he finished his song, he circled back to the moment and said, “whenever I speak to people, I appeal to their collective consciousness, because we know who kills children.” [Side note: Nelson Mandela is a hero of mine. He was elected president of South Africa on my 14th birthday. I studied abroad in Southern Africa because of him. My cat is named Nelson Mandela, too.]

Rodriguez’s show was as much a discourse about the state of the world and a meandering history lesson as a folk concert. I’m a social studies teacher, so I was down to learn from his experience, and I wish more of us were open to hearing the voices that have been silenced. He knew he talked a lot, of course, and told us “I shouldn’t talk so much. My father told me I have a big mouth.”

Rodriguez left us with this piece of advice–“Love is strong, so be gentle with your anger.” A couple of people arrived to help him find his way off stage. He (obviously) earned a standing ovation and was helped back to the stage to play a last song for us. He closed the night with a boldcover of The Doors’ “Light My Fire,” which felt like the right note to leave on. I can’t imagine that I’ll ever have the opportunity to see him in person again, and I am so glad I was there in the room for this.

xo,

bree

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April 4, 2018 · 9:45 AM

Wild Child with The Wild Reeds

Friday, March 30, 2018

Port City Music Hall, Portland, Maine

This was such a fun, easy night. After the chaotic Glen Hansard show I attended at House of Blues in Boston the week before, I was really glad to have a night where everything was relaxed and the energy in the room was positive. Shouldn’t concerts be a good experience, after all?

I had a pretty sweet Friday afternoon–a massage, a chat with a friend who lives in Spain, and I attended a ceremony where some of my students were inducted into the National Technical Honors Society. I made it to Portland around 8:30 and grabbed a front row spot for the 9 PM show. I’d seen The Wild Reeds open for The Lone Bellow (one of my top favorite bands) back in November and really liked them. I’d never heard of Wild Child, but I listened to a few of their songs online and they were really good. I’m glad I made it to this show to check them out live.img_1137img_1149img_1153The Wild Reeds were great live a second time. Fronted by a trio of women with pipes, I like their sound and energy and that they share the lead. Kinsey Lee, Mackenzie Howe, and Sharon Silva share the duties of playing electric and acoustic guitars, harmonium, keyboard, and harmonica. I suspect they all contribute songs to the group, too. Nick Jones and Nick Phapiseth fill out their sound on drums and bass. Kinsey, Mackenzie, and Sharon have powerful voices in their own right and also blend effortlessly. Rolling Stone named them one of “10 New Country Artists You Need to Know: March 2017.” I wouldn’t call them country, but genre is so fluid these days. Check out their 2015 NPR Tiny Desk Concert to get a better feel for The Wild Reeds, and definitely put them on your live show calendar.

I’d noticed by the end of The Wild Reeds’ set that I was mostly surrounded by teenagers up front. I think most of them were there to support Wild Child, and I wonder how I’d managed to be so far behind on knowing about them myself. Either way, I am so glad I stayed to check them out. Wild Child is a seven piece band from Austin and, in a word, they’re fun. Their energy is infectiously positive, and I was so taken with lead singer/violinist Kelsey Wilson’s stage presence. She leaned into the audience, made direct eye contact with fans, and smiled warmly. “Break Bones” seemed to be a crowd favorite. This is their mellower side, but their show was dynamic. I found out a few days later that Kelsey will be at Newport Folk Festival this summer playing with Glorietta–which is a supergroup if ever there was one–including two of my favorites, Noah Gundersenand David Ramirez. I will definitely be there to check them out this summer!

I had an awesome, unobstructed front row spot for the Wild Child set, and when I decided to head home a little early, I offered my spot to a teenager who was near me and knew all of the words to all of their songs but was craning her neck to see. Her eyes lit up when we swapped spots and she realized how much better her view was. It made my day to enhance her concert experience. It’s always good for your concert karma to help your neighbors have the best possible concert experience, too. Thanks to everyone who went to this show for making this a no-drama night!

xo,

bree

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