Seattle round-up
Seattle was simply awesome :)
Over The Rhine put on an astounding show. Karin's voice live sounds exactly like she does on CD. The opener, Kim Taylor, was really really good too. She accompanied the band on stage for most of the main show too, on backing vocals and guitar. Kim was a perfect complement vocally for Karin. I bought her CD, its a lot sleepier than her stage show, but it is beautiful. She also has an EP out, I should have bought that too.
We stayed towards the back of the venue during the show, its such a small place that it didn't really matter. And it was so incredibly hot in there that I needed a patch of bar to lean up against. During the break Mike and Josh started talking to a young lady named Rachel while I was buying the CDs (I also picked up Drunkards Prayer, finally). Apparently she is Karin's second cousin. :) However we didn't stick around afterward to meet the band. I would have liked to, but it really was insanely hot inside and we had been walking around being tourists all day; staying longer might have been the death of us.
So after nearly passing out at OtR, the element of the Tori show I was most looking forward to was the seating :)
Benaroya Hall has some of the most perfect acoustics I've ever encountered, and there isn't a bad seat in the house. We were on the aisle, right side of the center section, 23 rows back, which for my purposes was just about perfect. Great view, even when people chose to stand. The show itself wasn't the best Tori concert I've ever been to, but it had enough amazing highlights to keep me happy. Yes, Anastasia and Cool On Your Island prime among them. I had heard both of them live once before, but not like I did on Friday. Anastasia was flawless, and COYI was slow and gorgeous. It thrilled me that she played the full versions of both of them too, sometimes she drops parts of those two. "Tori's Piano Bar" was more than satisfying. Heart and Billy Idol, very cool. Twas good to hear Blood Roses, I'm really digging this years version. Ribbons Undone made me a little teary...for the first several minutes, after it went on about twice as long as it should have I got a little fidgety. I really wanted to hear some stuff from Venus and Choirgirl solo, but maybe she'll do that on the summer tour. The only thing I would have left out of the show was Jamaica Inn, it bordered on awful. Tori looked GORGEOUS too, hair, face, dress, all fabulous. :)
Tourist-y schtuff: Pike's Place (including some really spicy and lovely Turkish food and the first Starbucks! :p), the Science Fiction Museum (nifty!) and the Seattle Aquarium (highlight: baby sea otter!)
Oh, and IKEA. I <3 IKEA.
Over The Rhine put on an astounding show. Karin's voice live sounds exactly like she does on CD. The opener, Kim Taylor, was really really good too. She accompanied the band on stage for most of the main show too, on backing vocals and guitar. Kim was a perfect complement vocally for Karin. I bought her CD, its a lot sleepier than her stage show, but it is beautiful. She also has an EP out, I should have bought that too.
We stayed towards the back of the venue during the show, its such a small place that it didn't really matter. And it was so incredibly hot in there that I needed a patch of bar to lean up against. During the break Mike and Josh started talking to a young lady named Rachel while I was buying the CDs (I also picked up Drunkards Prayer, finally). Apparently she is Karin's second cousin. :) However we didn't stick around afterward to meet the band. I would have liked to, but it really was insanely hot inside and we had been walking around being tourists all day; staying longer might have been the death of us.
So after nearly passing out at OtR, the element of the Tori show I was most looking forward to was the seating :)
Benaroya Hall has some of the most perfect acoustics I've ever encountered, and there isn't a bad seat in the house. We were on the aisle, right side of the center section, 23 rows back, which for my purposes was just about perfect. Great view, even when people chose to stand. The show itself wasn't the best Tori concert I've ever been to, but it had enough amazing highlights to keep me happy. Yes, Anastasia and Cool On Your Island prime among them. I had heard both of them live once before, but not like I did on Friday. Anastasia was flawless, and COYI was slow and gorgeous. It thrilled me that she played the full versions of both of them too, sometimes she drops parts of those two. "Tori's Piano Bar" was more than satisfying. Heart and Billy Idol, very cool. Twas good to hear Blood Roses, I'm really digging this years version. Ribbons Undone made me a little teary...for the first several minutes, after it went on about twice as long as it should have I got a little fidgety. I really wanted to hear some stuff from Venus and Choirgirl solo, but maybe she'll do that on the summer tour. The only thing I would have left out of the show was Jamaica Inn, it bordered on awful. Tori looked GORGEOUS too, hair, face, dress, all fabulous. :)
Tourist-y schtuff: Pike's Place (including some really spicy and lovely Turkish food and the first Starbucks! :p), the Science Fiction Museum (nifty!) and the Seattle Aquarium (highlight: baby sea otter!)
Oh, and IKEA. I <3 IKEA.