And Another Three 2020 Concerts
Since my last update, I've been to three more shows. It should have been more, but the Fatoumata Diawara show at the Art Museum that was slated for 2/26 was cancelled due to inclement weather that kept her from getting to Cleveland.
Ah well, I'm still at 9 concerts with 14 bands on the year. At the same time last year I was at 2 shows / 5 bands, so things are looking up. I have tickets cued up for three more shows, namely Erykah Badu this month, AJJ in May and most excitingly Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds in Chicago in September.
7. I've seen We Were Promised Jetpacks three times before, but the most recent of those was back in 2014, which coincidentally was my first date with M. After a six year hiatus, I was happy to see them again. M couldn't go to due to having to get up early for work, so I met Eric by myself at the Grog Shop on Thursday, February 27. Due to some confusion about timing (there was one opening band, but it had a / in the name so I thought there was two) I missed the opener and instead arrived all of ten minutes prior to the show.
So here's the thing about WWPJ. Their first album was very good, their second album was nearly as good, and their third album was pretty terrible. Their fourth album came out in 2018 and the cut or two I listened to wasn't all that great, so I was going in hoping for old material. In that sense, I was disappointed, but it turns out that live the new material was very good all the way through. The club was at capacity, or damn near it, and on top of that my ticket was free courtesy of radio. The crowd was really into it, singing along with most of the songs, including all of what I would call the hits.
WWPJ continues to have "my favorite Scottish" band locked down. I bought the fourth album, which at home isn't as great as it was in concert but is much better than I initially gave it credit for when I was dipping individual tracks.
8. I went through all my old lists and it appears that I have seen Cyrille Aimee seven times prior to this evening. That includes an opening gig at Nighttown, another gig at the Tri-C Jazzfest, twice with Diego Figueiredo and the rest with her own band. The most recent of those was back in 2015, so like WWPJ it had been a while. This led M and I to Nighttown for the late Leap Day show on Saturday, February 29.
We had dinner at Barrio and then were lined up as when the doors opened for the late show. Cyrille came out with a trio (piano and bass). They really tore it up, with plenty of material that I hadn't heard on her albums (of course, she drops an album every year and I haven't heard them all). She had a solo set with "Rupert" the loop machine, and most excitingly Diego Figueiredo (who M informs me she likes) was in the house and joined in for one song in the set and another in the encore. The highlight was probably a long solo filled version of "Cheek to Cheek" that include a ridiculous scat vocal.
At 8, I believe Cyrille is now either second all time or tied for second for the band I've seen the most. I don't have any trouble imagining her climbing to the top of that last if she keeps this up.
9. Our fourth and final tickets for the 2019-2020 orchestra season were on Saturday, March 7. M and I joined Carol and John for dinner in Lakewood. The four of us then headed to Severance Hall to see Franz Welser-Most conduct one piece Orchestra had never played before in their history, and another that they had only placed once in 100+ years.
A brief digression: if they put together a package that was literally "here are all the pieces we have never played before, or have only placed a minuscule number of times", I'd probably buy that package. However, nobody else would, so it will never happen. Alas.
In any event, the first piece was a short 20 minute composition by Krenek called Static and Ecstatic. It was more interesting than good. However, I could go to the Orchestra for another fifty years and not see trombonists getting up mid-piece to play directly into the piano, so there's that. This was the first time the orchestra had played this piece.
After the intermission, the orchestra went to Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 2 (not that he called it that, but whatever). I tend to enjoy Mendelssohn, and this piece was why I had picked these tickets. The orchestra played it once back in 1988, so I now understand why I wasn't familiar with it. My quick summary is that the first three instrumental sections were very good, and the massed chorale parts were interesting, but the solo singers (either by themselves or with the chorus) didn't do much for me. I'm glad I saw it. It's always cool to see the little organ set up on stage too.
Ah well, I'm still at 9 concerts with 14 bands on the year. At the same time last year I was at 2 shows / 5 bands, so things are looking up. I have tickets cued up for three more shows, namely Erykah Badu this month, AJJ in May and most excitingly Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds in Chicago in September.
7. I've seen We Were Promised Jetpacks three times before, but the most recent of those was back in 2014, which coincidentally was my first date with M. After a six year hiatus, I was happy to see them again. M couldn't go to due to having to get up early for work, so I met Eric by myself at the Grog Shop on Thursday, February 27. Due to some confusion about timing (there was one opening band, but it had a / in the name so I thought there was two) I missed the opener and instead arrived all of ten minutes prior to the show.
So here's the thing about WWPJ. Their first album was very good, their second album was nearly as good, and their third album was pretty terrible. Their fourth album came out in 2018 and the cut or two I listened to wasn't all that great, so I was going in hoping for old material. In that sense, I was disappointed, but it turns out that live the new material was very good all the way through. The club was at capacity, or damn near it, and on top of that my ticket was free courtesy of radio. The crowd was really into it, singing along with most of the songs, including all of what I would call the hits.
WWPJ continues to have "my favorite Scottish" band locked down. I bought the fourth album, which at home isn't as great as it was in concert but is much better than I initially gave it credit for when I was dipping individual tracks.
8. I went through all my old lists and it appears that I have seen Cyrille Aimee seven times prior to this evening. That includes an opening gig at Nighttown, another gig at the Tri-C Jazzfest, twice with Diego Figueiredo and the rest with her own band. The most recent of those was back in 2015, so like WWPJ it had been a while. This led M and I to Nighttown for the late Leap Day show on Saturday, February 29.
We had dinner at Barrio and then were lined up as when the doors opened for the late show. Cyrille came out with a trio (piano and bass). They really tore it up, with plenty of material that I hadn't heard on her albums (of course, she drops an album every year and I haven't heard them all). She had a solo set with "Rupert" the loop machine, and most excitingly Diego Figueiredo (who M informs me she likes) was in the house and joined in for one song in the set and another in the encore. The highlight was probably a long solo filled version of "Cheek to Cheek" that include a ridiculous scat vocal.
At 8, I believe Cyrille is now either second all time or tied for second for the band I've seen the most. I don't have any trouble imagining her climbing to the top of that last if she keeps this up.
9. Our fourth and final tickets for the 2019-2020 orchestra season were on Saturday, March 7. M and I joined Carol and John for dinner in Lakewood. The four of us then headed to Severance Hall to see Franz Welser-Most conduct one piece Orchestra had never played before in their history, and another that they had only placed once in 100+ years.
A brief digression: if they put together a package that was literally "here are all the pieces we have never played before, or have only placed a minuscule number of times", I'd probably buy that package. However, nobody else would, so it will never happen. Alas.
In any event, the first piece was a short 20 minute composition by Krenek called Static and Ecstatic. It was more interesting than good. However, I could go to the Orchestra for another fifty years and not see trombonists getting up mid-piece to play directly into the piano, so there's that. This was the first time the orchestra had played this piece.
After the intermission, the orchestra went to Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 2 (not that he called it that, but whatever). I tend to enjoy Mendelssohn, and this piece was why I had picked these tickets. The orchestra played it once back in 1988, so I now understand why I wasn't familiar with it. My quick summary is that the first three instrumental sections were very good, and the massed chorale parts were interesting, but the solo singers (either by themselves or with the chorus) didn't do much for me. I'm glad I saw it. It's always cool to see the little organ set up on stage too.