It's a sad day when you realize that you've lost your concert legs. Oh man. I used to be able to stand for hours and hours to watch and listen to singers and bands perform. It's also sad when you can't really remember the last time you went to a concert. Well, at least I've been able to remedy that one.
I was fortunate enough to see the Lumineers yesterday. My friend and I arrived a little late, or so I thought, and I figured we had missed the opening act. But we didn't. They were a band called You Won't, who unfortunately didn't endear themselves early on when they introduced themselves as a band from Boston, Massachusetts. After the smattering of boos, he asked "What, is it a hockey thing?" The band was made up of two guys. The lead singer played the guitar mostly. The other member played pretty much everything else, and simultaneously. He played the drums and the harmonica at the same time, or the synthesizer and the drums and the tambourine. And he sang back up. I'd never heard of them before, so I listened to the first 20 seconds of some of their songs before I went downtown. I thought they sounded okay. In the live situation, it was a little different. There wasn't much interest from the audience (the girl in front of me started checking the hockey scores on her phone). The low point came when the lead singer started playing on wind chimes. But they played their best song (in my opinion) last, so it ended okay for me.
A forest of tall people sprouted up in front of me between the opening act and the headliners. We were in the general admission pit so the sight lines from further back weren't the best to start with. There was one tall guy who spent the majority of the night making out with his girl. Not exactly what I came here to see. But the good thing was that his girl was short, so he had to bend down, which meant that I could see better. Always an up side.
The Lumineers are such a sing-along band, which of course makes them great to see live. And they really do want everyone to enjoy the songs. As they were about to get to the chorus of "Ho Hey", they all stopped together and the lead singer asked everyone to put away their cell phones and recording devices and just enjoy the song. Awesome. Most people complied, but there were still some who ignored the request. They played some songs from their album, along with ones I didn't recognize and a new song here and there. Neyla got a fantastic response when she sang solo on part of a new song.
At the end of the set, I wasn't sure if they were going to do an encore. But sure enough they came out to play again. After the first encore song, I was abruptly shoved by the girl next to me. But that was only because she had been abruptly shoved as the gates around the soundboard burst open and an army of security guys surged out, flashlights in their mouths, holding various wooden boxes, microphones, and a drum. They made their way out to the middle of the crowd and set up a makeshift stage. Suddenly we weren't so far away from the band anymore. Someone behind me laughed and said all those people at the front row must be pissed because they're now suddenly the back row. The band wanted to play the first song completely unplugged (no mics either). It took forever for the room to quiet down, but it was worth it. So cool. They played another song with the mics before they went back to the stage and finished off the encore.
And then it was over. We waded through a sea of empty (and not so empty) beer cans and out into the night. As we drove out, we passed by, of all things, a music video shoot. It was clearly a rap video. The guy (whom I didn't recognize) was sitting on top of a bus shelter, surrounded by bottles of champagne, while a chick was standing on the sidewalk with an umbrella. Now I'll be watching for that video all the time...
"So keep your head up, keep your love"
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