So around 7, I said goodbye to Mickie and Jamie and drove up Water Street to the Pabst Theater. I parked in an adjacent hotel for 6 bucks. I walked outside the Wyndham lobby and the theater was the first building to the left. It's a very small theater, but it's been around for 100 years. Great architecture and just a good, intimate place to see a concert. It's actually registere as a National Historic Landmark. Kris Kristofferson, Branford Marsalis (former Tonight Show bandleader), comedian Caroline Rhea, and Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac) are playing there in the future.
I got a fourth row seat on the far left for 20 bucks. The top 2 levels were closed but I'd say 300-400 were in attendance. The show started at 8 and was sponsored by a local public radio station. I guess they focus on playing good simple, non-commercial music. Good to know that radio like that is out there because I can't find it in Chicago.
The Greencards opened up, and they're an acoustic trio from Australia and England (mandolin, bass, fiddle). They added a guitar player for the show. They touched on folk, bluegrass, and country and they just released their third record. In between songs, the fiddler from London (which I never thought I'd hear) took a few shots at Paris Hilton's record selling so well which got a pretty loud reaction. They played for about 45 minutes, but they can really play fast. Good opener.
Then came Robinella. If that girl doesn't have a Tennessee accent, I don't know who does. Her husband played keyboard, while she picked the guitar. And she must have a good word of mouth following, because the merchandise stand had a lot of her souvenirs available.
After our second intermission, Mindy came out. It was just her and a mandolin player. She went for about an hour and 10 minutes, which is good when she only has one album out right now. But "Long Island Shores" comes out next month and I will get it. On stage, she was a little goofy, laughing a lot, and always apologizing when she hit a wrong guitar chord. And though she lives in Tennessee, I can still hear her Long Island accent come through, particualrly on words like song, or as she said it "so-wong."
Now I really don't like when most singers sing high notes, but when she does it, she sounds so vulnerable and needing, and maybe a little desperate. But at the same time, I can still hear hope in there too. When she goes into the chorus on "One Moment More," a song she wrote for her late mother, it still leaves me weak. "Come to Jesus" and "Jolene" got the biggest pops. Then we got her back onstage for an encore and she was caught off guard. She said, a little embarrassed, "I didn't prepare anything else!" But she did one more song anyway. I wish she had hung around for a bit like the first two acts did so I could have met her, but hey, that's the breaks.
The show went 3 hours and I got home around 1 am after following some lousy directions from Mapquest. They took me all through Cook County. But a very good night all in all. The drive is long but the venue, music, and atmosphere were great.
No comments:
Post a Comment