Posts Tagged ‘concert experience’
CAL Concert
We were out on the town with our friends Barb and Mike in St. Paul last night to see a “Classic Albums Live” performance at the Ordway Theater. Why didn’t I know about this organization that’s been around for more than 20 years? Cyndie found this event when looking for something to do and added a reservation at Kincaid’s Fish, Chop & Steakhouse within walking distance of the theater for dinner before the show.
Irish Whiskey Seared Salmon for me and Prime Rib for Cyndie. Yum!
The classic album that we saw performed was The Beatles’ Abbey Road. The musicians admit to being nerds for the sounds of the albums, note for note, cut for cut. They don’t dress in costumes or strive to imitate the original artists. Instead, they put all their focus on performing live renditions of the recorded songs of classic albums from the period of music I grew up listening to. They don’t talk between cuts but just roll from one song to the next, the way my brain is used to hearing it.
What a trip!
Watching the effort they put into reproducing each effect of the recordings was particularly entertaining. On “Octopus’s Garden,” the horn players appeared on stage for the first time, holding cups with straws, to join the violinist and cellist in blowing bubbles in a way that worked perfectly to replicate the recorded version.
Of course, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” had the violinist striking metal with a hammer. From hand claps to harmonies and impressively precise musicianship, the artists brought the album to life in front of a full theater of passionate fans.
The Abbey Road album is only 47 minutes in length, so the musicians took a break after completing “Her Majesty” and then came out for a second set of Beatles’ songs from a variety of albums.
They closed the show with a rousing performance of “Twist and Shout” that had the audience on its feet, singing and dancing along. A good time was had by all.
On the drive home, Cyndie was checking the Classic Albums Live website for albums we might want to catch in the future. In just two weeks, they will be back at the Ordway to perform U2’s Joshua Tree. The Ordway announced they would be releasing their 2025-26 performance schedule soon, which will include more CAL shows, so we will be watching for that to see if there isn’t another nostalgic opportunity that strikes our fancy.
As I wound down from the excitement last night, I found myself thinking that I should do more listening to my music library by entire album instead of the usual random shuffle of every song in my collection that I most often choose. I think the first one I will pick might be Abbey Road since the live concert version is still fresh in my mind.
Since my library is digital, no flipping of vinyl will need to occur half way through.
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Doin’ Lowertown
Last weekend was all about the Lowertown district on the edge of downtown St. Paul for us. We attended a concert at the Palace Theatre for a Valentine’s date on Friday night and met our friends, Barb and Mike on Saturday for dinner at the Handsome Hog restaurant that overlooks Mears Park. The drive from home feels quicker than the 35-40 minutes it takes when we exit directly onto 6th street and instantly find ourselves at our destinations, with no other turns required.
The highlight was by far the food and company on Saturday night. The contemporary Southern pig-centric menu is incredibly well-executed, based on the variety of delicious selections we all shared family-style. The location worked as an exact half-way point between our two homes, with the Wilkuses coming from the west and us from the east/southeast. They are the bestest of friends!
The concert on Friday was a meld of Calexico (Joey Burns and John Convertino) and the endearing Sam Beam who performs under the moniker Iron & Wine. They are a good match and clearly enjoy each other and performing together for an audience. I am a fan of Sam Beam’s songwriting and performance and generally can appreciate the Americana Tex-Mex indie rock of Calexico.
Unfortunately, I’ve reached an age where I too easily let the peripheral aspects of going out to see live performances tarnish the ultimate impression of events. The music was good, and the performers wonderfully engaging, so I was happily entertained in that regard.
We were impressed that the opening entertainer, 22-year-old Madison Cunningham, started exactly at the time the show was billed to begin, regardless the many unfilled seats. The first thing I noticed when I sat down in the balcony was that the rows were so tight I would be breathing into the hair of the person sitting in front of me. Luckily, there was no one there for the opening set.
Cyndie and I were unfamiliar with Madison and were pleasantly surprised. It would be fair to compare her singing and guitar skills to Joni Mitchell. No wonder we both liked her.
When the headliners took the stage, the seats in front of us filled and the fog machine pumped a mist to better show off the lights. I’m not sure where the director of the light show was sitting, but it’s a good guess it wasn’t in the balcony. They kept turning the fog machine on so often it was getting difficult to see the performers through the constantly thickening haze.
To make matters worse, they too frequently turned bright lights on behind the musicians, shining the beam up into our line of sight.
While I was fighting to see through all that, my eyes started to water from the essential oil or exotic shampoo aroma the woman in front of me (right beneath my nose) was radiating into the atmosphere. Maybe she had just pulled her coat out of moth-ball storage. It was hard to tell. It evoked a blend of rancid spices rubbed into an old dirty rug.
Much as I appreciate Lowertown, and as fun as it was to hear Iron & Wine music live again, I’m afraid the return to comforts of home with tunes playing through my speakers seems just as good, or even better.
Definitely a sign of aging.
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Out Again
Feeling quite the bon vivant event-goers of late, last night we found ourselves out on the town again. We took a chance with our chickens and left their coop access door open long after dark in order to head downtown to Minneapolis for dinner and a concert with Cyndie’s brother, Ben.
Highest accolades shout-out to Mercy restaurant for superb food, great service, and fine ambiance.
Oh my gosh, the salmon and fixings were sublime. Shared bites from Cyndie’s and Ben’s plates revealed their choices were just as good.
Conveniently, the restaurant was just steps away from the State Theater where Ben had tickets for a solo acoustic concert by guitarist, Trey Anastasio. I am most familiar with Trey’s electric guitar artistry on his self-titled album, but I’m sure he is better known for his role in the rock band, Phish.
I’ve seen plenty of performances that were advertised as “acoustic” but stretched the definition to a variety of degrees. Trey’s show held reasonably close to the genre.
Our seats in the balcony placed me appropriately between two levels of interested fans. There were two guys behind me who I assume came with dates who were in love with the guitarist. These guys decided to have a full-voiced conversation about the mundane, …about one of their dads, something down in a basement, how the truck was performing… in the middle of some fascinating finger movement across frets.
Two people in front of us were being moved to the highest levels of euphoria upon hearing the opening notes of every song, unable to keep their hands from floating into the air in joyous rapture, occasionally rising to their feet to dance, as if powerless to resist the bliss unleashed by the connection their minds provided to the Phish song Trey was acoustically covering.
I couldn’t join the Phish faithful in singing along, because I didn’t know the lyrics, but I was thrilled to be witnessing the live-performance virtuosity of such an accomplished musician.
It made it easy for me to overcome the urge to turn around to tell the guys about my deck and the power tools I was learning to use in replacing all the rotting cedar boards with new green-treated two-by-sixes.
As our car barreled east on I94 through St. Paul after the show, a call came in from Ben. He just wanted to let us know he was a few blocks from home already and wondered how we were doing. Funny guy. We had about 40-minutes left to get to Beldenville.
Happily, I found the chickens all safe and sound on their roost, cooing at my arrival to close the door.
Another smashing success of a night out on the town. Thanks, Ben!
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Relative Something 