This afternoon serolynne and I went and saw the U23D concert film.

Wow.

No fluff, no filler, no backstage shots... Just 80 minutes of U2 rocking out while on the Vertigo tour.

The high definition cameras combined with the 3D effect is stunning. You really feel like you are there, zooming above the audience and around the stage. The lights, the sounds, the energy of the crowd... It was amazing.

It is so immersive that at times it feels less like a film than a concert. I could hardly keep myself sitting still - you can't help but want to stand up and move, shout, and sing. Several of the songs were so emotionally powerfully they brought tears to my eyes.

It was an amazing experience. Almost as good as being there. A bit less energy than live, but you get a much better view...

U2 is the most amazing band I have ever seen perform. If you have never had the chance to see U2 live, now is your chance. Spend the $10 and see this film. You will be blown away.

Rating: 5-stars!

I just got an email letting me know that tour dates have been announced for the 2008 Snakes & Arrows Live Tour!

Rush will be back on the road and passing through Florida in just a few months !

April 13th - Ft. Lauderdale
April 15th - Orlando
July 22nd - Atlanta (the last day of the tour)

The Orlando show is all but a certainty for us, and perhaps one of the others. Anyone in FL interested in joining us?

Fan pre-sale tickets for some shows go on sale tomorrow, but not the FL ones. As soon as they do, I am excited at the possibility of jumping early and trying to get seats as close to the front as possible. I haven't seen Rush perform up close since college.

*bounce*

Even though we already saw the first leg of this tour back in August in San Francisco, Rush is the only band that I could imagine wanting to see play multiple times on one tour, or even on consecutive nights. In fact, I remember doing just that to see the first two nights of the Counterparts tour in 1994. Pensacola one night, New Orleans the next.

I am such a fan... :-)

This past Monday night Jeannie and I got dressed up and drove down to Seattle to see the Wet Spots in concert, at a club ironically enough called The Wet Spot. (Steve had other plans and we could not talk him into joining us...)

What a fun night!

The Wet Spots are a "musical sex comedy duo" that have gained some fame and notoriety lately thanks to the hilarious widely shared Internet music-video "Do You Take It?" that has been making the rounds the past few months.

Cass King has a sultry lounge singers voice and playful spirit that is extremely engaging. Her partner John Woods provided the guitar and additional vocals. Both of them were a joy to watch perform. By the time intermission rolled around, I had a well developed crush on Cass - she is amazing.

The style of The Wet Spots music ranges from swanky lounge to silly sing-alongs. But the one common theme is that all the songs have something to do with sex. If you ever wanted to sing along with a room full of folks about porcupine masturbation - the Wet Spots are for you. Other great songs explore the horrors of toe sucking, or the ponderings of "Bi-Curious George." Hilarious!

The Wet Spots songs were intermixed with performances by The Von Foxies - an awesome Seattle burlesque troupe. In particular I loved the Seattle strip-tease that started off with yuppie cell phones and Starbucks, and ended up several layers of flannel later with dancers wearing sequined waffle-fabric long-underware stockings held up by garters. Brilliant!

SF Folk - the Wet Spots are coming on July 21st! Don't miss the show - it is a great time. The rest of the summer tour schedule is here.

Rating: 5 stars!

Friday night cortneyofeden and I went to see the Victor Wooten Band at the Fillmore.

I knew of Victor Wooten from his work as a Flecktone, playing in Bella Fleck's band. When Cortney mentioned she was going to this concert, I was excited to go along and check out his solo work.

Cortney is a big fan - at dinner at the Thai restaurant next to the Fillmore, her eyes got wide as saucers as we were seated at a table next to Victor. It was cute to watch her get all bouncy about being so close to him.

The concert was a blast - Victor Wooten is probably one of the most amazing bass players ever, and it seemed like half the audience was made up a bassists and other musicians who came to be schooled by the king.

And that was actually the biggest downside of the show. Victor Wooten is a musician's musician - and a lot of the concert consisted of showing off for other musicians and bassists. Afterwards it was amusing to listen to some fanboys raving about how "that was so SICK when he did X..." as we walked back to the car.

But even if I wasn't able to fully appreciate how "SICK" Victor was on the bass, I could appreciate watching a passionate master working his art - and he was indeed great.

The Victor Wooten Band was great too - I particularly loved Victor's brother jamming on a Thermanin. Wow.

This concert was great fun - thank you Cortney for inviting me along!!

Rating: 4 stars!

Some random LJ comments about Geocaching with cortneyofeden lead to an IM chat about weekend plans, which lead to Cortney inviting me to join her and her husband Ethan going to see Japanese Ukulele maestro Jake Shimabukuro playing at the Hotel Utah in SF on Sunday afternoon. After hearing her rave reviews and learning that he stole the show from Bella Fleck and the Flecktones while on tour last year - how could I say no.

Further LJ comment threads extended the plans so that Cortney and Ethan would come up early to watch the Steelers game. And then the two of them and Rebekah and I would go see Jake play.

Cortney wrote about the day and the concert here.

All I can say is WOW!

Jake is amazing.

No singing. No band. Just him rocking out on the Ukulele like you can't even imagine. His playing was beautiful and precise, and he ROCKED the packed house.

There were times when his hand was moving so fast that literally all you could see was a blur. It is amazing he could play that fast and that precisely. His energy and enthusiasm lit up the whole room.

I am a huge Jake fan now. *grin*

What a fun day. I love when random events converge in such a cool way. Thank you Cortney!!!!

Rating: 5 stars!!!!

Last week Wednesday (11/9) I went and saw U2 in concert, thanks to the good fortune that had a single ticket land in my lap in trade for two backpacks I was selling on Craigslist.

For a ticket with a $186 dollar face value, I expected an amazing seat - and when I arrived at the Oakland Arena I was actually underwhelmed and disappointed.  I was straight back from the stage, true - but in the very back row of the lower level.  And the Oakland Arena is an ugly and oppressive concrete monstrosity of a building.  The roof seems to angle DOWN over the main floor - making the ceiling seem even lower than it is.  It was an awful venue for a concert.  Or a sporting event.  Such ugly buildings should be torn down ASAP, me thinks...

Beers were $8/each.  U2 t-shirts cost $35-$50. $50 for a T-SHIRT?!??  Food was sky high too.  Yuck.

The stage set up was small and plain...  Not what I expected from U2.  There was a circular catwalk that looped out around half the audience on the arena floor, but other than that it was a disappointingly simple setup.  The arena setup had seats behind the band too, so there was not even any sort of backdrop.  This was a FAR cry from the amazing setup when I last saw U2 in 1992 - where they had a stage that filled Bush Stadium in St. Louis from one side to the other with towering stacks of giant televisions, cars mounted on giant boom cranes, and so much more.  This simple setup seemed more suited for a no-name band.  Not U2.

The opening act was Damien Marley...  Decent reggae music, but nothing much to write home about.  I want to know what's up with the guy whos only job for the entire 45 minute set was to jump around stage waving a Jamaican flag - doing nothing else at all.  Weird.  Stupid.

During the break before U2 came on, I was amused to count SIX Treos in use just in the seats in front of me.

And then the lights went down....  And U2 came on....

And WOW!

A curtain of light descended behind the stage as the band started to play "City of Blinding Lights" - and all my doubts about an underwhelming setup vanished in a moment of sheer technological artistry and magic.  The wall of light was made up of thousands of balls, each an individually controlled pixel.  It was as if the band was wrapped up inside the most beautiful transparent jumbotron ever.  It was so beautiful - the rush of light and music and energy - I was overwhelmed and moved to tears.  The plain looking stage danced with lights pulsing and racing in circles embedded within the catwalk.  It was perhaps the most beautiful concert light show I have ever seen.  Made even more so by the simplicity of it all.  No massive walls of effects, or things blowing up.  Just simply magic.

I didn't sit down until the end of the third encore.

What an amazing band.  What an amazing show.

I complained in my Blues Traveler concert review that the rest of the band just wasn't up to the caliber of John Popper's lead.  U2 has the biggest leads that there could possibly be in the form of Bono and The Edge, but paying attention to Larry Mullen on drums and and Adam Clayton on bass - they are GRANITE.  So amazingly rock solid.  They are not in your face forefront players, but their playing is amazing.  There couldn't be a better foundation at all for Bono and The Edge to build upon.

The Edge on lead guitar?  Uhm...  There is no one else like him.  He plays each and every note as if it was the most important one he has ever played - like the greatest blues musicians.  But he does it with an electric rock energy that is like no one else.  He is amazing to see live.

And Bono?  He was made for arena or stadium size crowds.  He has the raw force of personality (not to mention such an incredible voice) that he can make the biggest venue come alive and catch fire.  He radiates passion that you can feel all the way up to the rafters.

It was a breathtaking show - and I feel honored to have had a chance to see it.

One fun anecdote...  Rather than lighters, the new thing seems to be holding up glowing cell phone screens during the quiet song - and at one point Bono actually called on the audience to do just that.  Imagine ten thousand twinkling white stars filling the arena - it was beautiful.  He then asked everyone to text message a certain number to support the One campaign for human rights.  Shortly after, the names of everyone who did so started scrolling across the screens.  A cool bit of technological magic mixed live into the concert....   :-)

In summary -- if you have a chance to go see U2, do it.  You will be telling stories about seeing U2 live to your grandkids.  Few other bands will have that sort of staying power.  This is one of them.  And it was worth every cent.  (well, every backpack...)  *grin*

Last night I took Lindsay to see one of my newest favorite artists - Ben Lee (http://www.ben-lee.com/) in concert.

It was one of the most intense and moving concert experiences I have ever had. The hall was small and not crowded, and we were able to stand only a few feet away from the stage.

The three opening songs left me torn open and crying. I can't remember the last time I've been so emotionally moved at a concert. It was as if each song was directed straight into my heart.

The rest of the show was amazing as well, ending up with Ben Lee perched on the bar completely unplugged and unamplified singing a final quiet song.

He is an amazing artist, and it was an amazing night. Do yourself a favor and buy his newest album - "Awake is the New Sleep", pretty much every song on it has the potential to be a favorite.

Here are the three songs that blew me away at the start of the show...

( Begin )

( Into The Dark )

( Gamble Everything For Love )

And the closing song (before he unplugged and moved to the bar) also blew me away and had tears on my face yet again as the whole room sang along:

( We're All In This Together )

The most bizarre and amazing thing just happened.

Background #1: The best big concert I have ever seen was when U2 played Bush Stadium in St. Louis way back in 1992. I have not seen U2 in concert since, but they have always been one of my favorite bands, and I have always longed to see them again. And, well, they are U2. The biggest most iconic band that there is. Perhaps that there ever will be. I actually spent some time this afternoon looking for tickets online for either the Tuesday or Wednesday night show at the Oakland Arena, but not even Craigslist had a single tickets posted for sale. I was contemplating showing up, crossing my fingers, and dealing with scalpers, but....


Background #2: I have a matched set of backpacks listed on Craigslist for sale.


Just now, a woman and her son came by to try on the backpacks I was selling - they are planning a trip together to New Zealand. I was asking $175 total for both of them - roughly half what they cost new five years ago.

She saw the Blues Traveler ticket from Friday night sitting out on the counter, and jokingly asked if I was interested in a U2 ticket as well.

HELL YEAH!

Turns out her other son isn't able to make it into town for the show. She bought the tickets way back in April. Now she had a single spare. Just by random chance, it was in her purse. And the face value of the ticket was $183.

The matchup was too perfect. I gave her the backpacks, she gave me a LOWER LEVEL great seat ticket to go see U2 on Wednesday night.

Yeah!!!!! I love it when the universe twists and bends to make great things happen for me! :-)

Last night was a mix of good and bad poetry.

It started around 6:30pm, when I was puttering around the house with no plans for the evening and not even an idea of what to do for dinner.

Phone rings - it is my old friend Debbie/Wanda calling to see if I'd like to join her for Poetry & Pizza night at Escape from New York pizzeria in downtown SF. She said she had been last month and it was a blast. Not to mention a good deal - all you can eat pizza and salad and soda for $5.

Woohoo!

We met there at 7:30, ate, and then got bored to tears listening to some rather awful poetry, poorly read, with bad acoustics. *ugh*

There is such a huge gulf between good and bad poetry.

Thinking about this gulf got me thinking about my second favorite band in the universe, Blues Traveler. And in particular about John Popper - the lyricist and singer. Ah - now there is a good poet! John does things with words and imagery that rip my heart out sometimes.

Just an hour before, after I had gotten off the phone with Debbie, I just happened to glance at the KFOG concert calendar website - curious when U2 was coming to town. And - to my surprise, Blues Traveler was playing THAT NIGHT at the Fillmore!

After listening to the bad poetry, I knew I needed to be inspired. So I decided to leave the poetry jam early, and caught a bus to the Fillmore to see if any tickets were left.

SOLD OUT!

And the scalpers were asking $60/ticket - more than twice face value.

As I was standing around contemplating whether or not to pay, a man walks up and offers me his spare ticket for $35, exactly what he paid for it (TicketBastard fees make a $25 ticket cost $35 - evil). His friend still hadn't shown up, the opening act was over, and he wanted to get inside before the main event.

Woohoo!

I got inside, general admission crush right up near the stage, and ended up with a great view of the band.

And, well, wow...

John Popper is a god. He sings with such soul and emotion, and he plays the harmonica like no one else on earth. Listening to him jam - watching his mouth fly back and forth... Wow.

And of course his lyrics melt my heart - though they only played a few of my favorites. I guess the bluesy jam songs work better in concert than the more emotional deeper lyrical ones....

The rest of the band was good, but not in the same league as John - and I felt that pulled the whole show down some. I still had a great time, but I wished he had better backup.

Blues Traveler played for 2.5 hours, from 10pm until 12:30. It was a great show!

And to think, just hours before I had been contemplating a quiet night in eating soup and watching a movie. *grin*


And if you need to contemplate
Well here's an optimistic thought...

Life I embrace you
I shall honor and disgrace you
Please forgive if I replace you
You see I'm going through some pain
But now I see clearly
And the dawn is coming nearly
And though I'm human and it's early
I swear I'll never forget again