Al Stewart - 17 July 2009 - San Juan Capistrano, The Coach House
Okay, today I told myself I'd sit down and write up at least one of the Al Stewart concert reports, so this one is for the one babel and I saw on 17 July 2009 in San Juan Capistrano at The Coach House.
San Juan Capistrano is known to many outside of California as the home of the Mission swallows. The old Mission is where the birds used to migrate to and from. They don't do so much anymore, but the ruins of the Mission are still there and something of a tourist attraction. As the Coach House was only about three miles away, and my parents had free passes to the Mission, it seemed a good idea to arrive early to beat the traffic and walk around there first. babel, who got me into Al back in February, was visiting for ten days (mostly to see these two shows with me), and, as I had the car, I dragged her along with me to the Mission.
Unfortunately it was exceptionally hot and so we didn't enjoy it as much as we could've. The Mission was quite interesting, but there was something unnerving about standing in the ruins of a church that, when it collapsed during an earthquake, killed forty worshippers. While a lot of it was interesting, I found the most attractive area to be this fountain in the center of the grounds, which was full of goldfish / koi and flora:
Various rooms around the Mission had informational sections about the contruction or history of the Mission. With Al Stewart on the mind, the sign for one of them showing a video caught my eye:
"Past, Present and Future," of course, also being the title of one of Al's albums. Alas, it wasn't anything to do with Al, and the room was not even air conditioned so we didn't stay to watch. Truthfully, we left rather early and walked across the street to get frappuchinos at a gloriously air conditioned Starbucks. We met up for lunch with comawhite, where we were extremely underwhelmed by their vegetarian options (or utter lack thereof), and by 4pm we said our goodbyes and went to find The Coach House.
There was something of a mixup at arrival, as I presented my driver's license to pick up the tickets I had preordered months earlier. She informed me there was a "Van" in the register, but that it was nothing like "Van Donovan." In the end she asked for the phone number I used to call it in, and discovered that indeed the tickets were mine, but that the girl who took my ticket had written me down as "Van Conocan." Conocan. Because "Donovan" is so unusual, right? You certainly wouldn't expect a theater hosting a rather obscure British folk singer to know the name "Donovan" would you?
Anyway, crisis averted, we got the tickets and ended up first (well, technically second) in line! I think babel was a bit annoyed with me at this point, as it was very hot and we were there very early, but it worked out. We got to hear some of Al's sound check, which is always fun, and then he came out afterward and drove off (probably to have dinner) and I got to wave at him like the gigantic dork I am. While in line we also got to chat with some nice folks in line behind us who were there mostly to see Tom Buechi, the opening act. Anyway, we got into The Coach House and were sat at our table (which was one long table back from the stage, but dead center, which was nice. Further away than I would've liked, but far enough from the speakers it wasn't deafening.) We ordered the food, which I thought actually pretty decent, I just wasn't hungry since we'd just eaten. I did end up spending considerable amounts of money on bottled water (at $2.50 a pop ugh) because it was SO FREAKING HOT.
Then, to my surprise, JimB appeared with his wife, and sat down directly across from us! This was pretty impressive as the seats were not open and he was one of the few people in the entire audience I actually knew from the ASF, as we'd briefly met at the Santa Monica show in April. So it was quite nice to be across from another Al fan, and get to spend more time with him than I did at the Santa Monica show.
I also, however briefly, got to meet Chris from the ASF and "Watercolor in the Rain" who I had been emailing a bit offlist as well, though both were sat in areas far from us. Still, it's always nice to put a face to a name, however briefly.
I thought once the sun set it would cool off, but it didn't. Tom Buechi sweated through his whole set, complaining of the heat. I can't say I blame him. Anyway, I thought he was a decent opening act, and even quite liked one of his songs. They weren't comparable to Al, I don't think, but a solo guitarist (he played keyboard some too) seemed like a great opening act for Al, especially in lieu of the act that opened for him the following night at Brixton.
Anyway, after a brief intermission, LJ came on and opened with his usual set, I believe. I didn't write a set list, but he played his version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" which I absolutely adore and was very happy to hear live again. The crowd was very enthusastic for him and cheered a lot. It was definitely quite nice compared to the reception Al and Dave receieved in Las Vegas in June.
To my surprise, I don't think Al complained once about the heat, though it was clear we were all suffering from it. It never abated. In fact, as the night wore on and the energy from the crowd increased, it may well have gotten hotter. It was pretty awful. Still, I thought the show was excellent. The energy as exceptionally high. Al and LJ were joined on stage with two other musicians, as well. Marc Macisso played a wide range of instruments including harmonica, flute, tamborine and saxaphone and Kenny Herrera played drums. It was my first time seeing Al perform with more than just another guitarist, so I found it quite nice. Having that extra bit of music just adds that extra bit of energy and really helps somehow. I love Al solo or with just LJ or Dave, but having a drum and sax on certain songs does pick things up some. The crowd went wild when Marc surprise-appeared with the saxaphone on "Year of the Cat," for instance. I don't especially like the song, and I think I actually prefer acoustic versions without the sax more, but the energy from the crowd when such a thing happens is undeniable. It's wonderful to watch Al on stage during moments like these, self assured, almost smug.
Anyway, the highlight of the concert for me was when he played my favorite Al song, "The Dark and the Rolling Sea." Back at the Santa Monica show I had called out for him to play that at the encore, and he apologized later for not doing so, despite it being on the set list and one of his more favorite songs. When I got to meet him after the Santa Monica show, I asked him to try to play it at the San Juan Capistrano/Brixton shows. I don't know if he actually remembered (I have a hard time actually beliveing he did) or if it was just a wonderful coincidence, but he did play it, and Marc Macisso accompanied on flute. I managed to record this version of The Dark and the Rolling Sea, and it is up on YouTube here.
(Or you can watch it embedded here:
)
The lighting was pretty dark and we were far enough away that the picture quality isn't that good, and I had heads in my way of course, but I'm still extremely happy to have video of it. Prior to the concert I had imported a copy of the UK version of the Modern Times LP, as it's my favorite album and I like the UK cover considerably more and wanted to get Al to sign it for me. During the show Al mentioned he wasn't sure why he was playing so many songs off Modern Times that night, but I like to think perhaps it was because of that. Not that he knew, just one of those silly cosmic thoughts.
I wish I could remember more specific jokes and commentary now, but it's been a few weeks and my memory is pretty lame. I just remember having such a wonderful time, despite the heat. The crowd was exceptionally responsive and encouraging and Al seemed to be having a great time. The poor lighting and distance means I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, but here are a few of the less horrible ones:
After the show, we queued up to do the whole "meet and greet" thing. Al on stage seemed full of energy, but after the show I felt he looked very tired, and with quite a reason, considering just how hot it was. I was exhausted and I'd been sitting the entire time! Anyway, when it was my turn to speak to him, I thanked him for the peformance and asked him to sign my copy of Modern Times, which he graciously did. I told him that I had gone to the Junefest in Vegas just to see him, and he was quite apologetic about that. The man who was handling the merchandise seemed quite impressed though, and for reasons I'm still not sure of, gave me one of the posters they were selling for $15 for free. Needless to say, I was quite stunned and pleased. I got the "Broadway Hotel" one, which pleases me as it's probably my favorite song off the "Year of the Cat" album. Plus, free! Which is always nice. I always feel a bit embarrassed talking to Al after a show, but I think it's largely because he's so tired by the end of it, and this was no exception.
Still, I left feeling very happy and excited to see him the following night. (I intend to put up my review of the Brixton show... eventually.)
I did take a few videos (before I realized I wasn't supposed to be, apparently), which I've uploaded to my domain. It includes an uncompressed version of the YouTube video as well as short clips of On the Border, Night Train to Munich and Lord Grenville. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to resize/recompress the MOV files, so they're all rather large. The full .rar is 290MB, but you can download it here if you'd like. (Right or Apple click and 'save as' for that.)
San Juan Capistrano is known to many outside of California as the home of the Mission swallows. The old Mission is where the birds used to migrate to and from. They don't do so much anymore, but the ruins of the Mission are still there and something of a tourist attraction. As the Coach House was only about three miles away, and my parents had free passes to the Mission, it seemed a good idea to arrive early to beat the traffic and walk around there first. babel, who got me into Al back in February, was visiting for ten days (mostly to see these two shows with me), and, as I had the car, I dragged her along with me to the Mission.
Unfortunately it was exceptionally hot and so we didn't enjoy it as much as we could've. The Mission was quite interesting, but there was something unnerving about standing in the ruins of a church that, when it collapsed during an earthquake, killed forty worshippers. While a lot of it was interesting, I found the most attractive area to be this fountain in the center of the grounds, which was full of goldfish / koi and flora:
Various rooms around the Mission had informational sections about the contruction or history of the Mission. With Al Stewart on the mind, the sign for one of them showing a video caught my eye:
"Past, Present and Future," of course, also being the title of one of Al's albums. Alas, it wasn't anything to do with Al, and the room was not even air conditioned so we didn't stay to watch. Truthfully, we left rather early and walked across the street to get frappuchinos at a gloriously air conditioned Starbucks. We met up for lunch with comawhite, where we were extremely underwhelmed by their vegetarian options (or utter lack thereof), and by 4pm we said our goodbyes and went to find The Coach House.
There was something of a mixup at arrival, as I presented my driver's license to pick up the tickets I had preordered months earlier. She informed me there was a "Van" in the register, but that it was nothing like "Van Donovan." In the end she asked for the phone number I used to call it in, and discovered that indeed the tickets were mine, but that the girl who took my ticket had written me down as "Van Conocan." Conocan. Because "Donovan" is so unusual, right? You certainly wouldn't expect a theater hosting a rather obscure British folk singer to know the name "Donovan" would you?
Anyway, crisis averted, we got the tickets and ended up first (well, technically second) in line! I think babel was a bit annoyed with me at this point, as it was very hot and we were there very early, but it worked out. We got to hear some of Al's sound check, which is always fun, and then he came out afterward and drove off (probably to have dinner) and I got to wave at him like the gigantic dork I am. While in line we also got to chat with some nice folks in line behind us who were there mostly to see Tom Buechi, the opening act. Anyway, we got into The Coach House and were sat at our table (which was one long table back from the stage, but dead center, which was nice. Further away than I would've liked, but far enough from the speakers it wasn't deafening.) We ordered the food, which I thought actually pretty decent, I just wasn't hungry since we'd just eaten. I did end up spending considerable amounts of money on bottled water (at $2.50 a pop ugh) because it was SO FREAKING HOT.
Then, to my surprise, JimB appeared with his wife, and sat down directly across from us! This was pretty impressive as the seats were not open and he was one of the few people in the entire audience I actually knew from the ASF, as we'd briefly met at the Santa Monica show in April. So it was quite nice to be across from another Al fan, and get to spend more time with him than I did at the Santa Monica show.
I also, however briefly, got to meet Chris from the ASF and "Watercolor in the Rain" who I had been emailing a bit offlist as well, though both were sat in areas far from us. Still, it's always nice to put a face to a name, however briefly.
I thought once the sun set it would cool off, but it didn't. Tom Buechi sweated through his whole set, complaining of the heat. I can't say I blame him. Anyway, I thought he was a decent opening act, and even quite liked one of his songs. They weren't comparable to Al, I don't think, but a solo guitarist (he played keyboard some too) seemed like a great opening act for Al, especially in lieu of the act that opened for him the following night at Brixton.
Anyway, after a brief intermission, LJ came on and opened with his usual set, I believe. I didn't write a set list, but he played his version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" which I absolutely adore and was very happy to hear live again. The crowd was very enthusastic for him and cheered a lot. It was definitely quite nice compared to the reception Al and Dave receieved in Las Vegas in June.
To my surprise, I don't think Al complained once about the heat, though it was clear we were all suffering from it. It never abated. In fact, as the night wore on and the energy from the crowd increased, it may well have gotten hotter. It was pretty awful. Still, I thought the show was excellent. The energy as exceptionally high. Al and LJ were joined on stage with two other musicians, as well. Marc Macisso played a wide range of instruments including harmonica, flute, tamborine and saxaphone and Kenny Herrera played drums. It was my first time seeing Al perform with more than just another guitarist, so I found it quite nice. Having that extra bit of music just adds that extra bit of energy and really helps somehow. I love Al solo or with just LJ or Dave, but having a drum and sax on certain songs does pick things up some. The crowd went wild when Marc surprise-appeared with the saxaphone on "Year of the Cat," for instance. I don't especially like the song, and I think I actually prefer acoustic versions without the sax more, but the energy from the crowd when such a thing happens is undeniable. It's wonderful to watch Al on stage during moments like these, self assured, almost smug.
Anyway, the highlight of the concert for me was when he played my favorite Al song, "The Dark and the Rolling Sea." Back at the Santa Monica show I had called out for him to play that at the encore, and he apologized later for not doing so, despite it being on the set list and one of his more favorite songs. When I got to meet him after the Santa Monica show, I asked him to try to play it at the San Juan Capistrano/Brixton shows. I don't know if he actually remembered (I have a hard time actually beliveing he did) or if it was just a wonderful coincidence, but he did play it, and Marc Macisso accompanied on flute. I managed to record this version of The Dark and the Rolling Sea, and it is up on YouTube here.
(Or you can watch it embedded here:
)
Click to viewThe lighting was pretty dark and we were far enough away that the picture quality isn't that good, and I had heads in my way of course, but I'm still extremely happy to have video of it. Prior to the concert I had imported a copy of the UK version of the Modern Times LP, as it's my favorite album and I like the UK cover considerably more and wanted to get Al to sign it for me. During the show Al mentioned he wasn't sure why he was playing so many songs off Modern Times that night, but I like to think perhaps it was because of that. Not that he knew, just one of those silly cosmic thoughts.
I wish I could remember more specific jokes and commentary now, but it's been a few weeks and my memory is pretty lame. I just remember having such a wonderful time, despite the heat. The crowd was exceptionally responsive and encouraging and Al seemed to be having a great time. The poor lighting and distance means I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, but here are a few of the less horrible ones:
After the show, we queued up to do the whole "meet and greet" thing. Al on stage seemed full of energy, but after the show I felt he looked very tired, and with quite a reason, considering just how hot it was. I was exhausted and I'd been sitting the entire time! Anyway, when it was my turn to speak to him, I thanked him for the peformance and asked him to sign my copy of Modern Times, which he graciously did. I told him that I had gone to the Junefest in Vegas just to see him, and he was quite apologetic about that. The man who was handling the merchandise seemed quite impressed though, and for reasons I'm still not sure of, gave me one of the posters they were selling for $15 for free. Needless to say, I was quite stunned and pleased. I got the "Broadway Hotel" one, which pleases me as it's probably my favorite song off the "Year of the Cat" album. Plus, free! Which is always nice. I always feel a bit embarrassed talking to Al after a show, but I think it's largely because he's so tired by the end of it, and this was no exception.
Still, I left feeling very happy and excited to see him the following night. (I intend to put up my review of the Brixton show... eventually.)
I did take a few videos (before I realized I wasn't supposed to be, apparently), which I've uploaded to my domain. It includes an uncompressed version of the YouTube video as well as short clips of On the Border, Night Train to Munich and Lord Grenville. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to resize/recompress the MOV files, so they're all rather large. The full .rar is 290MB, but you can download it here if you'd like. (Right or Apple click and 'save as' for that.)