This song is dedicated to the Glamarama sign
We went to Josh Ritter and Love Canon ("This is Love Canon. We've actually only played two gigs and those were Ritter family functions, but never mind") in the Empire on Sunday night. I've talked about the sheer awesome that is Josh Ritter in the Empire before. There is no way not to love his shows. If you want proof, I dragged Amy and Liz in more or less cold and they came home in love. Ruth and I kept phoning Em so she could hear the new songs (which oh wow, pretty) amid her studying. We were right at the front. The band probably thought we were nuts. Although they really are not in a position to judge anyone else's sanity, considering that the main qualification for playing with Josh Ritter, after being amazing at at least two instruments, is being demented and having no shame whatsoever. Which is fantastic. Like the gig.
The whole thing could easily have descended into farce, actually, since the first thing that happened after Richard Julian finished his set was that an unfortunate roadie knocked the upright bass over on its face (apparently he did not meet an untimely end, which means Zack Hickman is a much better person than me). The entire Empire did a collective cringe and four horrified heads popped round from backstage like jack-in-the-boxes.It survived. There was a wobbly bit at the start with 'Come and Find Me' when Zack was still fixing the pickup and didn't come in where Josh was expecting him, and Josh forgot the words. And got the giggles. He did that a lot. I bet he's useless at poker.
The whole show had that giddy, glorious catastrophe curve quality that comes from four very capable people who really love what they do playing somewhere they enjoy and ignoring the fact that its all falling apart because really, who cares if the pickup on the bass is making the floor shake, or Josh accidentally swaps out two verses, or breaks multiple strings mid-song and then fails at swapping out guitars (and of course the thing to do while you're flailing around looking for the pickup lead is to mime wild despair and jump up and down) and Jesse gets left trying to do a two-part melody by himself, or Zack knocks the Comedy Club backdrop down on himself, as long as everyone's having fun. And well. They so were. Up to and including a blonde wig, 'Jenny 867-5309' and an amount of bouncing that would scare a kangaroo.
They did a lovely mix of stuff. Everything sounds different with the string band and no drums. 'Girl in War' works gorgeously with just the bass and acoustic, and everything is better with mandolins. Getting into duelling banjos with the expert was proably not the smartest move, mind you. There's one, I'm not sure if its new or not, I think I've seen him do it before, called 'Southern Pacific' that he did acoustic and its beautiful. A travelling song. And the ones that definitely are new, 'The Curse' and 'Annabelle Lee' are making me desperate for the new album. I don't know what he's been reading, but its turning out some beautiful, eerie songs.
The Empire's taken the Glamarama sign down. I've never seen anyone so woeful about a neon sign. He even dedicated 'Lillian Eygpt' to it. He really loves that sign. He made up for the lack of it by turning up his collar and pretending to be an Edwardian silent movie star all the way through. Zack Hickman, of course, does not need to stoop to such lengths, because he looks like that all the time. The rest of the band says the Empire was made for him to play in. It may be the other way around. Anyway, Zack is cooler than you. All of you. Ever.
And at the end, the very very end, Josh came right up to the front of the stage and sang 'The Parting Glass' completely unplugged. And in keeping with the rest of the night, he got half way through the third verse, lost the plot, sang 'and I've forgotten the woooords' and started laughing again.
I want to be that happy all the time.
The whole thing could easily have descended into farce, actually, since the first thing that happened after Richard Julian finished his set was that an unfortunate roadie knocked the upright bass over on its face (apparently he did not meet an untimely end, which means Zack Hickman is a much better person than me). The entire Empire did a collective cringe and four horrified heads popped round from backstage like jack-in-the-boxes.It survived. There was a wobbly bit at the start with 'Come and Find Me' when Zack was still fixing the pickup and didn't come in where Josh was expecting him, and Josh forgot the words. And got the giggles. He did that a lot. I bet he's useless at poker.
The whole show had that giddy, glorious catastrophe curve quality that comes from four very capable people who really love what they do playing somewhere they enjoy and ignoring the fact that its all falling apart because really, who cares if the pickup on the bass is making the floor shake, or Josh accidentally swaps out two verses, or breaks multiple strings mid-song and then fails at swapping out guitars (and of course the thing to do while you're flailing around looking for the pickup lead is to mime wild despair and jump up and down) and Jesse gets left trying to do a two-part melody by himself, or Zack knocks the Comedy Club backdrop down on himself, as long as everyone's having fun. And well. They so were. Up to and including a blonde wig, 'Jenny 867-5309' and an amount of bouncing that would scare a kangaroo.
They did a lovely mix of stuff. Everything sounds different with the string band and no drums. 'Girl in War' works gorgeously with just the bass and acoustic, and everything is better with mandolins. Getting into duelling banjos with the expert was proably not the smartest move, mind you. There's one, I'm not sure if its new or not, I think I've seen him do it before, called 'Southern Pacific' that he did acoustic and its beautiful. A travelling song. And the ones that definitely are new, 'The Curse' and 'Annabelle Lee' are making me desperate for the new album. I don't know what he's been reading, but its turning out some beautiful, eerie songs.
The Empire's taken the Glamarama sign down. I've never seen anyone so woeful about a neon sign. He even dedicated 'Lillian Eygpt' to it. He really loves that sign. He made up for the lack of it by turning up his collar and pretending to be an Edwardian silent movie star all the way through. Zack Hickman, of course, does not need to stoop to such lengths, because he looks like that all the time. The rest of the band says the Empire was made for him to play in. It may be the other way around. Anyway, Zack is cooler than you. All of you. Ever.
And at the end, the very very end, Josh came right up to the front of the stage and sang 'The Parting Glass' completely unplugged. And in keeping with the rest of the night, he got half way through the third verse, lost the plot, sang 'and I've forgotten the woooords' and started laughing again.
I want to be that happy all the time.