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framlingem(Subject line courtesy of Nathan Wiley).
First things first -![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
darcedor, Cory says hi :)
ladyshrew, someone coughed next to me, and it made me think of you... eheu!">
So. Crush with Nathan Wiley opening, October seventh at the Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre.
I had it in my head that it was next Thursday, not this one, so I hadn't bought a ticket yet. When I twigged that it was tonight, I went straight down after school (it's all of... oh, two minutes' walk. Leisurely, at that) and asked the box office guy if there were any tickets left for tonight. "Four," says he. "Oh good," says I, "I only need one!"
Being me, I decided against going back up the hill. Concert was in only three hours, after all! (Lazy? Me? Never!) I sat in the lobby of the A&CC, which is an art gallery with comfy chairs and pictures of past performers on the walls (including Fred Penner, Dame Vera Lynn (!), and... Sebastian Spence! Squee! Me oh my, he's a cutie!), and did part of my GIS assignment, which is to criticise a map given to me. Not difficult - I got assigned a tourist map of Mexico, which, while very beautiful in an aesthetic sense, is bloody useless as a map. I heard soundcheck going on in the theatre. Sounded good to me, and I heard snatches of song... and realised they had a piano in there when I heard Paul's voice say "hey, listen to this!" followed by "Fur Elise". A PIANO! My heart did little flutterings. This concert was going to be different.
Little did I know just how different it was going to be.
People trickled in eventually, then flooded, and the doors opened and I found my seat, which was not the best seat in the house, but the theatre has both a very steep floor and no obstructions, so there isn't a bad seat in the place. Except the first two rows, where one's eye level is actually below the lip of the stage. Not good for one's neck.
We did the "stand up sit down stand up sit down" dance for a while until everyone was seated in the right seats, sat for a while and listened to the great music being piped over the sound system ("Radar Love" - awesome!) , and then Nathan Wiley took the stage.
What can I say about Nathan, other than I wish I'd seen him before this, many times, and that his lyrics are poetic and nostalgic and beautiful? He's not the most charismatic performer I've ever seen, but his drummer is - plays drums with the enthusiasm of a six year old being handed drumsticks for the first time. I love watching drummers. I need a t-shirt that says 'drum addict'. I will be buying Nathan Wiley's albums soon, I think, or asking for them for Christmas. I'd have bought them tonight if I'd had the cash. The theatre was dead silent during all of his songs. Seriously. At one point his lead guitarist (who is a prime candidate for the Musician's Catch and Release program) was switching guitars and there was this horrible grinding noise, and Nathan stage whispered "it's not supposed to do that", nowhere near the microphone, and everyone heard him. He played "Home", which is the only one of his songs I know, and... man. The emotion that man can put into his voice is phenomenal. I need to see him some more.
Crush? Crush was Crush. I don't think they're capable of doing a bad show - if they tried to be bad, they might wind up being merely Very Good. Two songs in, Cory stopped and pointed to the sides of the stage. See that mike there? And there? You're being recorded, folks, we're doing a live album. My heart went thumpity thump, while my brain reasoned that with the number of concerts I go to (this is my seventh Crush show), I was bound to be in a live album crowd sooner or later. At which point Paul leaned into the mike and deadpanned, "that means that even if we suck really bad, you will smile and nod and clap and cheer and scream and clap and cheer and scream anyway. Is that clear?" That's just part of how different it was.
Another different thing? There was an organ. I don't mean a synthesizer. I mean a real, honest to god, organ, made out of wood (get your minds out of the gutter), with carved legs. It was a work of art. When the show started, it was with the curtain being raised very, veeeeery slowly with the organ chords in background... everyone was in silhouette, the organist, the drummer, and Scott. The drummer started playing (I couldn't see his face)... and I grinned, because the exuberant way he was pounding was familiar. Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Santiago Serna on drums. My very favorite rock drummer, be-sunglassed and be-cowboy-hatted. Perfect.
Crush started with "Fly", did a few more rock songs, then traded their electric guitars for acoustics as Santiago and Scott made an exit, stage left. Sitting himself down on a stool, Cory proceeded to babble for about ten minutes about... well, everything under the sun. Tangent after tangent. I love that man. Then he got to talking about musical influences, and Vince Gill, and how he was no Vince Gill (he doesn't have to be Vince Gill. He's Cory Tetford, fer crissakes), but he went on to blow us away with "Pocket Full of Gold" anyway. And then Paul followed up with "Walking in Memphis", which is the first song I ever dropped everything for when it came on the radio.
Those boys got soul.
Then Paul sat down at the piano, apologised because he 'can't play the piano' (hah!), told us the story behind "Roommate" (which was previously the most confusing lyric in existence except for "Bohemian Rhapsody", but now makes much more sense), and proceeded to play it and sing it. It remains one of my less-favorite Crush songs, but they simply don't have any bad songs. Then it was Cory's turn at the piano, and he played "Grace" (from his solo album of the same name), and man. If you're reading this despite never having heard Cory Tetford sing... he's got a voice like... like... a military fighter plane. It goes and goes and you don't think your ears and chest can take any more, and then he turns on the afterburners and embodies every great gospel tenor ever born, with the soul of Ray Charles and the lungs of a Mexican soccer announcer (goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllll!).
"Strung Out in Saskatoon" with that organ was the best I've ever heard it. "Everybody's Girl" and "Change My Mind" were a bit iffy - I think Paul might be having problems with his voice, as he seemed to be substituting easier transitions for the more difficult ones.
They ended the regular set as they always do, with "Sweet Sister Mercy", and the encore was "Bad Enough" and Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone".
Cory's moves are becoming more and more Chuck Berry-esque every time I see him.
*sigh* Good times.
First things first -
darcedor, Cory says hi :)ladyshrew, someone coughed next to me, and it made me think of you... eheu!">So. Crush with Nathan Wiley opening, October seventh at the Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre.
I had it in my head that it was next Thursday, not this one, so I hadn't bought a ticket yet. When I twigged that it was tonight, I went straight down after school (it's all of... oh, two minutes' walk. Leisurely, at that) and asked the box office guy if there were any tickets left for tonight. "Four," says he. "Oh good," says I, "I only need one!"
Being me, I decided against going back up the hill. Concert was in only three hours, after all! (Lazy? Me? Never!) I sat in the lobby of the A&CC, which is an art gallery with comfy chairs and pictures of past performers on the walls (including Fred Penner, Dame Vera Lynn (!), and... Sebastian Spence! Squee! Me oh my, he's a cutie!), and did part of my GIS assignment, which is to criticise a map given to me. Not difficult - I got assigned a tourist map of Mexico, which, while very beautiful in an aesthetic sense, is bloody useless as a map. I heard soundcheck going on in the theatre. Sounded good to me, and I heard snatches of song... and realised they had a piano in there when I heard Paul's voice say "hey, listen to this!" followed by "Fur Elise". A PIANO! My heart did little flutterings. This concert was going to be different.
Little did I know just how different it was going to be.
People trickled in eventually, then flooded, and the doors opened and I found my seat, which was not the best seat in the house, but the theatre has both a very steep floor and no obstructions, so there isn't a bad seat in the place. Except the first two rows, where one's eye level is actually below the lip of the stage. Not good for one's neck.
We did the "stand up sit down stand up sit down" dance for a while until everyone was seated in the right seats, sat for a while and listened to the great music being piped over the sound system ("Radar Love" - awesome!) , and then Nathan Wiley took the stage.
What can I say about Nathan, other than I wish I'd seen him before this, many times, and that his lyrics are poetic and nostalgic and beautiful? He's not the most charismatic performer I've ever seen, but his drummer is - plays drums with the enthusiasm of a six year old being handed drumsticks for the first time. I love watching drummers. I need a t-shirt that says 'drum addict'. I will be buying Nathan Wiley's albums soon, I think, or asking for them for Christmas. I'd have bought them tonight if I'd had the cash. The theatre was dead silent during all of his songs. Seriously. At one point his lead guitarist (who is a prime candidate for the Musician's Catch and Release program) was switching guitars and there was this horrible grinding noise, and Nathan stage whispered "it's not supposed to do that", nowhere near the microphone, and everyone heard him. He played "Home", which is the only one of his songs I know, and... man. The emotion that man can put into his voice is phenomenal. I need to see him some more.
Crush? Crush was Crush. I don't think they're capable of doing a bad show - if they tried to be bad, they might wind up being merely Very Good. Two songs in, Cory stopped and pointed to the sides of the stage. See that mike there? And there? You're being recorded, folks, we're doing a live album. My heart went thumpity thump, while my brain reasoned that with the number of concerts I go to (this is my seventh Crush show), I was bound to be in a live album crowd sooner or later. At which point Paul leaned into the mike and deadpanned, "that means that even if we suck really bad, you will smile and nod and clap and cheer and scream and clap and cheer and scream anyway. Is that clear?" That's just part of how different it was.
Another different thing? There was an organ. I don't mean a synthesizer. I mean a real, honest to god, organ, made out of wood (get your minds out of the gutter), with carved legs. It was a work of art. When the show started, it was with the curtain being raised very, veeeeery slowly with the organ chords in background... everyone was in silhouette, the organist, the drummer, and Scott. The drummer started playing (I couldn't see his face)... and I grinned, because the exuberant way he was pounding was familiar. Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Santiago Serna on drums. My very favorite rock drummer, be-sunglassed and be-cowboy-hatted. Perfect.
Crush started with "Fly", did a few more rock songs, then traded their electric guitars for acoustics as Santiago and Scott made an exit, stage left. Sitting himself down on a stool, Cory proceeded to babble for about ten minutes about... well, everything under the sun. Tangent after tangent. I love that man. Then he got to talking about musical influences, and Vince Gill, and how he was no Vince Gill (he doesn't have to be Vince Gill. He's Cory Tetford, fer crissakes), but he went on to blow us away with "Pocket Full of Gold" anyway. And then Paul followed up with "Walking in Memphis", which is the first song I ever dropped everything for when it came on the radio.
Those boys got soul.
Then Paul sat down at the piano, apologised because he 'can't play the piano' (hah!), told us the story behind "Roommate" (which was previously the most confusing lyric in existence except for "Bohemian Rhapsody", but now makes much more sense), and proceeded to play it and sing it. It remains one of my less-favorite Crush songs, but they simply don't have any bad songs. Then it was Cory's turn at the piano, and he played "Grace" (from his solo album of the same name), and man. If you're reading this despite never having heard Cory Tetford sing... he's got a voice like... like... a military fighter plane. It goes and goes and you don't think your ears and chest can take any more, and then he turns on the afterburners and embodies every great gospel tenor ever born, with the soul of Ray Charles and the lungs of a Mexican soccer announcer (goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllll!).
"Strung Out in Saskatoon" with that organ was the best I've ever heard it. "Everybody's Girl" and "Change My Mind" were a bit iffy - I think Paul might be having problems with his voice, as he seemed to be substituting easier transitions for the more difficult ones.
They ended the regular set as they always do, with "Sweet Sister Mercy", and the encore was "Bad Enough" and Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone".
Cory's moves are becoming more and more Chuck Berry-esque every time I see him.
*sigh* Good times.
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-07 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-08 06:33 am (UTC)That review was AMAZING thank you SO much! I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for someone to do a decent review for this tour and finally I get my wish. Thanks Em! :) This comes at a particularly bad time for me so I really appreciate the good news.
I'm indescribably happy that they're doing a live album! *does happy dance* It is going to kick ass! I can't wait!
no subject
Date: 2004-10-08 07:03 am (UTC)And you're welcome :)
(And I can't wait for that live album either - there's some songs they did last night that I really want to hear sung that way again, so... yeah. Plus their studio albums have a tendency to not live up to their live performances - still good, but not as breathtakingly awesome!)
no subject
Date: 2004-10-08 06:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-07 09:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-08 07:06 am (UTC)If last night's show was any indication, the live album is going to be fantastic.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-07 09:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-08 07:09 am (UTC)*hugs*
You're welcome.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-08 07:19 am (UTC)I'm so friggin' excited to see Crush again. Especially with the addition of an acoustic set and piano. *sigh* btw, Santiago is back in the band on a regular basis so there shouldn't be anymore drummer swapping going on. My mom will be happy.
*bouncy*
no subject
Date: 2004-10-08 02:37 pm (UTC)Cool
Date: 2004-10-08 07:02 pm (UTC)