Elizabeth Jamieson (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
elizalavelle) wrote2006-10-02 08:43 pm
elizalavelle) wrote2006-10-02 08:43 pm
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Okay, and now it's time for the looooooooooooong review of the Sarah Slean concert last night.
So the afternoon roadtrip began with Cameron being over an hour late and my starting to go through the phone book and calling every home with his last name.... and actually reaching a cousin before Andrea tracked down the correct number ;) However as he was driving his mother to church it's really impossible to be angry at the lateness AND we were still there VERY early because I always would rather be early than rushing to get there. We picked up Andrea on the way to London and had a great road trip, only a little bit of rain early on, but other than that it was all beauty the whole way there. We got a little lost going into London as the road signs totally lied to us. But we ended up not too lost and found the theatre quite easily and then went to find a place for dinner.
I was tempted by this lovely looking Italian restaurant but upon inspection it looked out of our price range so we ended up going accross the street to this place whose name I don't remember where the service was not so great but the food was very yummy :) By the end of the meal I was ridiculously giddy for the show but also impressed with myself that I more or less managed a full meal (people who've seen me pick at food before shows will understand that.)
Then we headed back down to the theatre and of course first went to check out the merch. table. Nothing new as of yet but they did have 3 of the promotional card booklets from when Night Bugs was released. However the woman who was selling the merch didn't know prices yet so we decided to wait seeing as there were only 3 of them, and 3 of us and we each very much wanted one. Of course I had to open my big mouth and ask if it was Tod who was coming out to confirm prices, which earned me a "this girl is clearly crazy" look. Then it did indeed end up being Tod which probably sealed that woman's mind that we were indeed crazy. Tod had to go check with Sarah about the Night Bugs books so he tucked them away for us until after the show. I also picked up some extra lithographs to decorate my workspace with a little more. I needed some art up :)
Into the theatre:
This theatre is beautiful! Old Broadway style, just amazing paintings and box seats and the sculpting and everything was just a treat to see. I love beautiful theatres.
Sarah hit the stage at just past 8 to applause and cheers and opened with
My Invitation Which is such a sweet song :) All I kept thinking while she was singing was that it was good to be getting back to Slean concerts again. We were SO spoiled last fall/winter and that was very missed for the last 6 months or so.
Eliot preceeded by the usual remarks about 1984. Which if you haven't read yet you really should (says my inner book geek )
*a little talk about her getting into the habit of saying certain things en francais like "merci" after almost every song. Her French accent is really quite excellent!*
Weight in which there was awesome use of the mic, not sure who to praise more for that, Sarah or Tod, probably both, there were just parts of this song that blew me away!
Mary (whose middle name is Gwendolyn.... which now reminds me of Gwendolyn Mary from the Mallory Towers books.) Beautiful beautiful song, this is one that just hit me more towards last Winter and I adore it still :)
Out In The Park I really really love the preambles to this song. The spirit of finding joy and beauty in life is something that I really started working towards more after I'd graduated and now I'm such a happier person. Cute touch to this song was that she started to start with "one two three..." and then switched to "un deux trois quatre cinc six."
*then another story about her tiny tiny apartment in France, she got up and mapped out on stage how small this place was. Very tiny! It sounded almost like residence small.*
Somebody's Arms I love this song! (I should probably start omitting that sentiment because I love all of them...) I'm so glad Sarah started playing this one on the last tour. I remember people wondering during the Day One tour if they'd get to hear this song live ever, and I'm very glad the answer turned out to be "yes" :)
Looking For Someone Our new song of the night! This one alone was worth the ticket price and has been singing itself in my head all day. It's about looking for someone to love and when you find them finding that the wait was all worthwhile and they've been looking for you... and it sounds sugary sappy sweet written down like that but it's not; it's almost haunting actually. I'll be crossing my fingers for this one to pop up on an album eventually :)
Sweet Ones I still like this song no matter how many times I hear it, and I've been listening to it since it was a huge radio/video single, so that says something about the quality of this piece of music. I still want to be surprised by being at a show and having this be left off of the setlist but that's probably more because I like to be contrary sometimes ;)
INTERMISSION (during which in the bathroom line we heard Sarah being referred to as "being just like an angel up on the stage" which was very sweet.
Lucky Me Always fun, and the girls behind us gave a great "declined" and "first prize" which I love to hear :) I like the audience participation when it's loud enough to drown me out ;)
Bank Accounts ...however our audience trumpet solo here sucked. We're working on that still ;)
Duncan which I couldn't resist requesting (although I lasted quite a while since she started with taking requests) I just love love love this song. It's the one which made me almost cry the first time I heard her sing live and it still just has something special to it.
High Again, really fabulous work with the mic. I'm not sure exactly what she was doing but it was effective like woah.
Book Smart Street Stupid A HUGE thank you to whomever requested this one because it's another one that doesn't get played live very often and the last time I'd requested it/heard it was in Peterborough and I had a migrane for that entire show and just felt like I might die and thus don't really remember much of it at all. Lovely to hear it live and to hear it when I didn't feel like passing out ;)
Vertigo It seems that everytime I hear Sarah play this it's a slightly different version which makes it even more fun, it's great to see how songs change as time goes by. Just slightly different piano work but it really makes a difference. I don't think I've ever found one version particularly better than another, but I like to hear the small changes.
Pilgrim Cam's Thanksgiving wish ;) Always a great song live :)
California !!!!! How long has it been since this one was played live sans band? Awesome! I didn't think she was actually going to play that request, and am very glad she did!
John XXIII I love the beauty of this song as well. I could listen to it over and over and over...
*a bit of talking about Orphan Music, the new album, which she revealed will be released on Oct. 31st! Such joy over that one! It will have live material and B sides and I'm just about dying to know what ended up on there (and REALLY REALLY hoping for When Another Midnight from the Harbourfront shows amoung other things)*
Day One Such a fun song, and oddly relevant to my life at different times...
Blue Parade a song Sarah says always makes her feel better when she plays it.
*standing ovation"
My Song Sarah's song to the audience. Very good to hear this one again as well :)
and then that was the end as she was being told to be quick. And upon inspection I see that we had 20 songs (plus a smattering of an instrumental Jingle Bells in there and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) so we were spoiled but I never seem to feel as if the show has been long enough. That's the sign of a great performer, you just don't get bored/restless, while you're watching/listening to them on stage.
Out to the lobby we go. We managed to find Tod again who hooked us up with the Night Bugs promo cards :) I gave him some of the fudge I'd made last week :) and we all ended up chatting for quite a while while we waited for the autograph line to dwindle down.
Cam, Andrea and I hopped into line when there were just 4 or 5 people left and went and I totally babbled at Sarah for a while. Joel you never got back to me on if I should or should not tell Sarah you were in town for the last show... I went with telling.... go prepared with requests when she next tours out near to you :)
Much chatting about music, the internet, tiny apartments and all that jazz and then we called it a night as everyone was tired and Cam still had to drive us back home and try for a few hours of sleep before he had to be at work. Now it's all about coming down from the fantastic concert high, looking forward to the next one.
Chocolate fudge for all who actually read this monstressly long review! And now I'm going to go shower and drop into bed, I feel as though I haven't slept in a week!
So the afternoon roadtrip began with Cameron being over an hour late and my starting to go through the phone book and calling every home with his last name.... and actually reaching a cousin before Andrea tracked down the correct number ;) However as he was driving his mother to church it's really impossible to be angry at the lateness AND we were still there VERY early because I always would rather be early than rushing to get there. We picked up Andrea on the way to London and had a great road trip, only a little bit of rain early on, but other than that it was all beauty the whole way there. We got a little lost going into London as the road signs totally lied to us. But we ended up not too lost and found the theatre quite easily and then went to find a place for dinner.
I was tempted by this lovely looking Italian restaurant but upon inspection it looked out of our price range so we ended up going accross the street to this place whose name I don't remember where the service was not so great but the food was very yummy :) By the end of the meal I was ridiculously giddy for the show but also impressed with myself that I more or less managed a full meal (people who've seen me pick at food before shows will understand that.)
Then we headed back down to the theatre and of course first went to check out the merch. table. Nothing new as of yet but they did have 3 of the promotional card booklets from when Night Bugs was released. However the woman who was selling the merch didn't know prices yet so we decided to wait seeing as there were only 3 of them, and 3 of us and we each very much wanted one. Of course I had to open my big mouth and ask if it was Tod who was coming out to confirm prices, which earned me a "this girl is clearly crazy" look. Then it did indeed end up being Tod which probably sealed that woman's mind that we were indeed crazy. Tod had to go check with Sarah about the Night Bugs books so he tucked them away for us until after the show. I also picked up some extra lithographs to decorate my workspace with a little more. I needed some art up :)
Into the theatre:
This theatre is beautiful! Old Broadway style, just amazing paintings and box seats and the sculpting and everything was just a treat to see. I love beautiful theatres.
Sarah hit the stage at just past 8 to applause and cheers and opened with
My Invitation Which is such a sweet song :) All I kept thinking while she was singing was that it was good to be getting back to Slean concerts again. We were SO spoiled last fall/winter and that was very missed for the last 6 months or so.
Eliot preceeded by the usual remarks about 1984. Which if you haven't read yet you really should (says my inner book geek )
*a little talk about her getting into the habit of saying certain things en francais like "merci" after almost every song. Her French accent is really quite excellent!*
Weight in which there was awesome use of the mic, not sure who to praise more for that, Sarah or Tod, probably both, there were just parts of this song that blew me away!
Mary (whose middle name is Gwendolyn.... which now reminds me of Gwendolyn Mary from the Mallory Towers books.) Beautiful beautiful song, this is one that just hit me more towards last Winter and I adore it still :)
Out In The Park I really really love the preambles to this song. The spirit of finding joy and beauty in life is something that I really started working towards more after I'd graduated and now I'm such a happier person. Cute touch to this song was that she started to start with "one two three..." and then switched to "un deux trois quatre cinc six."
*then another story about her tiny tiny apartment in France, she got up and mapped out on stage how small this place was. Very tiny! It sounded almost like residence small.*
Somebody's Arms I love this song! (I should probably start omitting that sentiment because I love all of them...) I'm so glad Sarah started playing this one on the last tour. I remember people wondering during the Day One tour if they'd get to hear this song live ever, and I'm very glad the answer turned out to be "yes" :)
Looking For Someone Our new song of the night! This one alone was worth the ticket price and has been singing itself in my head all day. It's about looking for someone to love and when you find them finding that the wait was all worthwhile and they've been looking for you... and it sounds sugary sappy sweet written down like that but it's not; it's almost haunting actually. I'll be crossing my fingers for this one to pop up on an album eventually :)
Sweet Ones I still like this song no matter how many times I hear it, and I've been listening to it since it was a huge radio/video single, so that says something about the quality of this piece of music. I still want to be surprised by being at a show and having this be left off of the setlist but that's probably more because I like to be contrary sometimes ;)
INTERMISSION (during which in the bathroom line we heard Sarah being referred to as "being just like an angel up on the stage" which was very sweet.
Lucky Me Always fun, and the girls behind us gave a great "declined" and "first prize" which I love to hear :) I like the audience participation when it's loud enough to drown me out ;)
Bank Accounts ...however our audience trumpet solo here sucked. We're working on that still ;)
Duncan which I couldn't resist requesting (although I lasted quite a while since she started with taking requests) I just love love love this song. It's the one which made me almost cry the first time I heard her sing live and it still just has something special to it.
High Again, really fabulous work with the mic. I'm not sure exactly what she was doing but it was effective like woah.
Book Smart Street Stupid A HUGE thank you to whomever requested this one because it's another one that doesn't get played live very often and the last time I'd requested it/heard it was in Peterborough and I had a migrane for that entire show and just felt like I might die and thus don't really remember much of it at all. Lovely to hear it live and to hear it when I didn't feel like passing out ;)
Vertigo It seems that everytime I hear Sarah play this it's a slightly different version which makes it even more fun, it's great to see how songs change as time goes by. Just slightly different piano work but it really makes a difference. I don't think I've ever found one version particularly better than another, but I like to hear the small changes.
Pilgrim Cam's Thanksgiving wish ;) Always a great song live :)
California !!!!! How long has it been since this one was played live sans band? Awesome! I didn't think she was actually going to play that request, and am very glad she did!
John XXIII I love the beauty of this song as well. I could listen to it over and over and over...
*a bit of talking about Orphan Music, the new album, which she revealed will be released on Oct. 31st! Such joy over that one! It will have live material and B sides and I'm just about dying to know what ended up on there (and REALLY REALLY hoping for When Another Midnight from the Harbourfront shows amoung other things)*
Day One Such a fun song, and oddly relevant to my life at different times...
Blue Parade a song Sarah says always makes her feel better when she plays it.
*standing ovation"
My Song Sarah's song to the audience. Very good to hear this one again as well :)
and then that was the end as she was being told to be quick. And upon inspection I see that we had 20 songs (plus a smattering of an instrumental Jingle Bells in there and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) so we were spoiled but I never seem to feel as if the show has been long enough. That's the sign of a great performer, you just don't get bored/restless, while you're watching/listening to them on stage.
Out to the lobby we go. We managed to find Tod again who hooked us up with the Night Bugs promo cards :) I gave him some of the fudge I'd made last week :) and we all ended up chatting for quite a while while we waited for the autograph line to dwindle down.
Cam, Andrea and I hopped into line when there were just 4 or 5 people left and went and I totally babbled at Sarah for a while. Joel you never got back to me on if I should or should not tell Sarah you were in town for the last show... I went with telling.... go prepared with requests when she next tours out near to you :)
Much chatting about music, the internet, tiny apartments and all that jazz and then we called it a night as everyone was tired and Cam still had to drive us back home and try for a few hours of sleep before he had to be at work. Now it's all about coming down from the fantastic concert high, looking forward to the next one.
Chocolate fudge for all who actually read this monstressly long review! And now I'm going to go shower and drop into bed, I feel as though I haven't slept in a week!
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Also? Mm, fudge ^_~
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Fudge is one thing that I've found I definitely do well :) but then I have to share it because I can't have it sitting around my house waiting for me to eat it lol
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I wish she'd hurry up and play back in NYC.
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