Aqualung concert
Another year gone by and yes another Aqualung concert I've been to. This has been only my second Aqualung concert but it was once again the most extraordinary thing I've seen. First, let me describe actually getting there.
The show was at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia and I've never been there before. Naturally the night before was filled with plenty of googling and mapquesting to find the way there. Lucky for me, it's a few blocks away from thirtieth street station and my brother's college dorm so we know the area. My friend Danielle, who went with me and my dad to the show, was already in Philly all day at the flower show so she was going to meet us there sort of. We ended up picking her up at thirtieth street station so she didn't have to walk there. Driving in Philly confuses the hell out of me... Chestnut went the wrong way that we wanted to go so we had to go up one more and my dad ended up accidentally going back over the Schuylkill River. It was six thirty and we had to get back to where we were and find the place. So we go around the block and end up back where we were coming from the other direction but we get there eventually. Of course, then you have to find the parking and we were on the wrong street. So after going inside we had to go back out and go around the block and find the parking lot on the other side because that parking was free. Finally we were there, parked, and inside...
The place itself inside was a lot smaller than I had expected. There was a bar in the back and then you went down about four steps to the main floor. The few tables that they had were already taken by the time we had arrived, thirty minutes after the doors opened. They did have taller tables but no chairs to go along with them. The rest of the tables without any chairs were pushed up against the stage and people had already taken to sitting on top of them; our party did the same. (Although I have to point out that me, my dad, and my friend were probably the smartest. We pulled out table out a bit and were able to sit with our legs out in front, not curled behind us.... more comfortable our way I thought). So anyway, much later than we expected, the show began.
Sara Bareilles was the opening act for Aqualung. She was sitting in the center of the stage with her keyboard and played a few songs. I was surprised that she played for such a short amount of time. At the other Aqualung concert that I went to, David Ford seemed to have been on the stage for twice as long as she was. Nevertheless, she was still very good and I enjoyed her music a lot. She's sort of pop, but with something different mixed in. I guess she's like a bit more pop-ish Corinne Bailey Rae... with more songs like Put Your Records on than Like a Star.
So after Sara Bareilles played it was time for the main event, Aqualung. I've been waiting since last April to see them again and nearly missed this show; I was so happy to be there though. We were sitting in front of Ben, on the right side. Ben was literally four feet away from us and Matt was on the other end of the stage so he was around twenty feet away. It was amazing, I've never been that close at a show before.
Matt opened with my favorite song, Extra Ordinary Thing. He looked so sophisticated with the wine glass sitting on top of his piano and the lights just right. It was just him up on the stage for the first song and after that Ben and the rest of their quartet came out to join him. They played Left Behind followed by Something to Believe In off of the new album. There was a pretty good mix of old songs and new songs from Memory Man. They played Strange and Beautiful, Falling Out of Love, Good Times Gonna Come, Brighter Than Sunshine, Breaking My Heart Again, Left Behind, Easier to Lie, and Extra Ordinary Thing off of the Strange and Beautiful album. From Memory Man they played
Something to Believe In, Cinderella, Broken Bones, and Black Hole...plus more that I can't remember. Matt, of course, also came up with his own songs and enlightened us with the history of the Philadelphia shows.. which included explaining the Ass Gig. Matt also sang a Bruce Springsteen song which after the very first line he stopped and said, "I f*cked up the first line. Ben, how does the first line go again?" And then they played around a bit and did a really long intro which was quite funny... before Matt finally got it right. I have to say the song about Philly was great though, especially with Ben playing the guitar with his beer cup and Matt saying, "And whisper it now 'Phil-adel-phia'" It was hilarious.
This gig Matt said would be the Bruce Springsteen and talking about accents gig. People shouting and cheering got Matt talking about how in America there are two kinds of basic crowd yelling. I'll explain more later, time for bed.
The show was at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia and I've never been there before. Naturally the night before was filled with plenty of googling and mapquesting to find the way there. Lucky for me, it's a few blocks away from thirtieth street station and my brother's college dorm so we know the area. My friend Danielle, who went with me and my dad to the show, was already in Philly all day at the flower show so she was going to meet us there sort of. We ended up picking her up at thirtieth street station so she didn't have to walk there. Driving in Philly confuses the hell out of me... Chestnut went the wrong way that we wanted to go so we had to go up one more and my dad ended up accidentally going back over the Schuylkill River. It was six thirty and we had to get back to where we were and find the place. So we go around the block and end up back where we were coming from the other direction but we get there eventually. Of course, then you have to find the parking and we were on the wrong street. So after going inside we had to go back out and go around the block and find the parking lot on the other side because that parking was free. Finally we were there, parked, and inside...
The place itself inside was a lot smaller than I had expected. There was a bar in the back and then you went down about four steps to the main floor. The few tables that they had were already taken by the time we had arrived, thirty minutes after the doors opened. They did have taller tables but no chairs to go along with them. The rest of the tables without any chairs were pushed up against the stage and people had already taken to sitting on top of them; our party did the same. (Although I have to point out that me, my dad, and my friend were probably the smartest. We pulled out table out a bit and were able to sit with our legs out in front, not curled behind us.... more comfortable our way I thought). So anyway, much later than we expected, the show began.
Sara Bareilles was the opening act for Aqualung. She was sitting in the center of the stage with her keyboard and played a few songs. I was surprised that she played for such a short amount of time. At the other Aqualung concert that I went to, David Ford seemed to have been on the stage for twice as long as she was. Nevertheless, she was still very good and I enjoyed her music a lot. She's sort of pop, but with something different mixed in. I guess she's like a bit more pop-ish Corinne Bailey Rae... with more songs like Put Your Records on than Like a Star.
So after Sara Bareilles played it was time for the main event, Aqualung. I've been waiting since last April to see them again and nearly missed this show; I was so happy to be there though. We were sitting in front of Ben, on the right side. Ben was literally four feet away from us and Matt was on the other end of the stage so he was around twenty feet away. It was amazing, I've never been that close at a show before.
Matt opened with my favorite song, Extra Ordinary Thing. He looked so sophisticated with the wine glass sitting on top of his piano and the lights just right. It was just him up on the stage for the first song and after that Ben and the rest of their quartet came out to join him. They played Left Behind followed by Something to Believe In off of the new album. There was a pretty good mix of old songs and new songs from Memory Man. They played Strange and Beautiful, Falling Out of Love, Good Times Gonna Come, Brighter Than Sunshine, Breaking My Heart Again, Left Behind, Easier to Lie, and Extra Ordinary Thing off of the Strange and Beautiful album. From Memory Man they played
Something to Believe In, Cinderella, Broken Bones, and Black Hole...plus more that I can't remember. Matt, of course, also came up with his own songs and enlightened us with the history of the Philadelphia shows.. which included explaining the Ass Gig. Matt also sang a Bruce Springsteen song which after the very first line he stopped and said, "I f*cked up the first line. Ben, how does the first line go again?" And then they played around a bit and did a really long intro which was quite funny... before Matt finally got it right. I have to say the song about Philly was great though, especially with Ben playing the guitar with his beer cup and Matt saying, "And whisper it now 'Phil-adel-phia'" It was hilarious.
This gig Matt said would be the Bruce Springsteen and talking about accents gig. People shouting and cheering got Matt talking about how in America there are two kinds of basic crowd yelling. I'll explain more later, time for bed.