Sunday, August 15, 2010

15. See a Concert at The Melody Tent

So when my sister-in-law's cousin Kelly offered me tickets to the Counting Crows earlier in the summer, I respectfully had to decline (after pondering it for quite some time) they were nearly $70 bucks a piece and I just couldn't justify spending that kind of money on a show.  When I realized it was my Amy's birthday weekend I breathed a sigh of relief that I had already opted out of the concert, as last year a family member had given me Bostones tickets for the night of her party.  I wasn't terribly upset about missing the concert, I mean I love the Counting Crows, I think Adam (yeah I'm on a first name basis with him) is an incredibly talented song writer and all but I've been to a ton of concerts and I always know, next year is another year.  Anywho, last weekend was my big birthday fiesta and what does my brother and sister-in-law and her family give me...two Counting Crows tickets.  I was actually disappointed by the gift, I can't lie.  I really wanted to go out for Amy's birthday.  I'm rarely in the city and was getting excited to get dressed up and go out with the girls...I even suspected there would be dancing.  Once I got over the initial disappointment and figured I could shoot up to Boston if the show didn't end to late, I grew quite excited about it as the week grew.

After offering the second ticket to Jamie first (only because she gets first refusal on anything fun in my life, not because I was trying to take her away from Amy), and getting the expected denial, and having Culum tell me that he would need to be intoxicated to enjoy the concert, I called my other bestie Melissa who was totally psyched to tag along and I was totally psyched to have her. The show started at 8pm and we surprisingly got there at 8:05pm and heard someone singing Van Morrison's "Caravan", said person sounded just like Adam, but I thought nothing of it...openers sometimes sound like lead acts...happens at Ani concerts all the time.  So we grabbed some beers and chatted for a bit.  Suddenly, I realized that familiar voice had to be Adam, however, he was being accompanied by a rapper.   I stuck my head inside the tent and he was onstage with a full band and said rapper.  We quickly got to our seats, what happened over the next several hours was nothing short of genius.  Augustana (ya know that "think I'm goin to Boston" song), Counting Crows and the rapper who's name I believe is Notor, all played together like a family.  Sometimes it was just the Counting Crows, Augustana or Notor, other times it was some combination of the three. It was pretty fucking amazing.  In the middle of the concert they all came together (sans the rapper) to do Bob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman" which is really my favorite song (I actually wept when I saw Dylan do it).  It was so incredible.   Whenever one of the musicians had a solo, everyone on stage would gather round that person, to show some respect and jam out to their solo.

If you've never been to see live music that I'm truly into with me, my reaction is hard to understand.  I get this full feeling in my chest and this surge of energy, I suppose its like being high.  I was so overwhelmed by the quality of this show, I was jumping about like a little kid who has to go to the bathroom.  During intermission I told Mel that my favorite show I'd seen at the tent was Richie Havens and Arlo Guthrie and that it had ended with Arlo teaching us a peace loving song that we all sang together and clapped along to.  Counting Crows ended with Arlo's dad's song "This Land is Your Land".  I think that was pretty much meant to be.

So while I'm still quite sad I missed Amy's birthday, I'm extremely grateful I got to see such a great show.  I guess we'll have to celebrate Amy's birthday again...which probably doesn't suck for her :)

No comments:

Post a Comment