Indy Live Music

How special - our very first review of an arena show!  I kid - I know that we, like some of you, typically prefer to enjoy live music in a more intimate setting - you know, where you can afford to sit close enough to see that the artist indeed has facial features!  Typically, Santana and Steve Winwood wouldn't have been on our must-see list of live music, but when I saw that lawn tickets were Ticketmaster's $10 ticket of the day a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned this to my mom who is a big fan of both artists, and offered to buy our tickets if we'd go with her.  Long story short, she ended up having to back out, but we still went and enjoyed ourselves anyway.

When we arrived at Verizon, there were signs of the current downturn in the live music industry everywhere.  You could procure pavillion upgrade seats for as low as $10 per person (I bet there were a lot of unhappy people who paid full price for those tickets!), there were LiveNation reps positioned throughout the venue selling lawn tickets for between $10 and $25 for upcoming shows, and Verizon was seriously far from packed.  Nearly an entire section of pavillion seats remained empty for the entire show.  And I've never attended an event there where you could spread out on the lawn and not be encroached upon by people.  It really is sad that the economy is such that artists have trouble selling out events, but can also be a bonus for concert-goers who end up getting really great deals out of the hardship.  We elected to stick with lawn seating, and spread out at the very front of one of the lawn sections.


The crowd at this show was different from what we've been used to recently.  As you (hopefully) already know from reading our other reviews, we typically stick to smaller venues and more "emerging" or "indie" artists.  Seeing as both Santana and Steve Winwood have been rocking for decades now, the crowd was quite a bit more representative of the middle-age-and-beyond music lovers.  Also quite a few families, and you can't forget the crazy drunk people dancing/stumbling around.

Steve Winwood played for about a half an hour, and played some of his old hits like "Higher Love" and "Gimme Some Lovin".  He can still rock after all these years.  Split his time between playing guitar and keyboard.  There wasn't a whole lot of excitement in the crowd for him until he played the hits that everyone knew the words to.  Mel and I were discussing how his music spans generations - if only because everyone hears his songs on the easy listening station at the dentist's office.  But really, I enjoyed his music and love that he still performs live.

Santana and his huge band then took the stage.  There were two lead singers, bongos, drums, keyboard, guitar, etc.  Carlos Santana plays a mean guitar, but that's not news to anyone I'm sure.  He played some of his big hits, like "Maria, Maria", "Smooth", and a cover of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love".  We were kinda prepared to be blown away by Santana, but ended up feeling that it was a good show, just not fantastic.  Most of the songs were drug out for a lot longer than necessary for some reason.

Then there were Carlos' interesting comments about how Obama is doing a crappy job because he hasn't brought our troops home, how marijuana should be legalized and we should use the money for schools and education, how when the women are happy everyone is happy, and a dissertation on how everyone is made up of only two things - "light and love".  It didn't really seem to go with the flow of the evening, seemed more like a "brain dump" of political leanings.

All in all, a decent night.  And we left a bit early to try to beat traffic - which is managed much better now than it was the last time I was at Verizon about 6 years ago when it took 4 hours to get out of the parking lot after a John Mellencamp show.  So I have better feelings about hitting up the other shows we have coming up at Verizon.

We were pretty excited about getting to see Ingrid at the Vogue as our first show back from Bonnaroo. It was because of Bonnaroo that we were convinced to see the show in the first place...we were captivated by how funny and personable she was onstage.

The show begins with opener, Matt Morris. His new album, When Everything Breaks Open, is a pretty new release and one of the champion projects from the Tennman label, which was founded by Justin Timberlake. You may never have guessed it, but Matt and Justin were cast-mates on The All New Mickey Mouse Club...you know, that show that was a breeding ground for all those TRL superstars from the late 90's. Anyways, Morris is a pretty talented songwriter and has helped pen songs like "Miss Independent" for Kelly Clarkson, and "(Another Song) All Over Again" for Timberlake's Futuresex/Lovesounds album. And that fact that he is a songwriter is what stood out in his performance this evening at the Vogue. He simply brought a couple of other band guys to play with him and opened up the show with 2 very funk-soul sounding songs, then launched into the indie/songwriter mode. He played "In This House," "Money," and "Live Forever," which is the first single from his new album.

Not too long after Morris, Ingrid Michaelson hits the stage and the crowd had such a warm response to her. She opened up with the first track from her newest album, a song called "Soldier". First thing that I noticed was right from the start, Ingrid and her band are sounding amazing, with the harmony sounding perfect, which gives me chills from the get go. And with perfect timing, Ingrid and the band insert lyrics from "Poker Face" into the harmony. It's an excellent start to the show. And of course, it doesn't take long for Ingrid to show off her comedic skills. She told the crowd how she was all bummed out because it was raining and she didn't think anyone would come to the show. She continued with an excellent set list that included "Parachute", "The Hat", in which Ingrid had the whole crowd doing choreography. She told some great stories, one in particular about how she has been asked to speak at a graduation ceremony and the story she was going to tell about how she threw water on some dumb boys at at stoplight that ultimately had no moral. Also, as she was interacting with the crowd, she made up a song on the spot about someone in the crowd sitting on a vibrating speaker named Jean and the song turned into "Kinky Jean"...and all I could think was "God, I hope someone is taping this and putting it on YouTube tomorrow."

Ingrid continued to entertain us musically and comedically, and did more songs such as a cover of "Creep." One of our favorite moments was when the band sang a song called "Let's Get Rich" and all the members of the band took turn singing parts into the microphone. The song is so incredibly sweet. In the middle of the song, as Ingrid's guitar player, Bess Rogers, was singing, we find out that she is going to marry Chris Kuffner, the bass player. They shared a little smooch onstage and it was just the cutest moment of the show.

The moment we were looking forward to the most was when Ingrid did a cover of "Toxic," by Britney Spears, who she introduced as an up and coming singer songwriter. The cover included choreography, as well. Ingrid also included both versions of her song "The Way I Am"...one was the album version and the other was the full blown rock and roll version...either way, the song is great.

All in all, I have to say that I've felt lukewarm about Ingrid's music when I'm just hanging out and listening to it, but upon seeing her live, I really appreciate her. She is not the fabulous diva girl that so many artists feel they have to be. Instead, she is genuine, humble, morose at times, and optimistic at others...and we love all of those because it is a reflection that is not so different from our own. We look forward to seeing her again sometime soon and listening to her music with new insight.

1. If ever you have dreamed of going to a place in the Continental U.S. that drug use is basically legal, buy your tickets to Bonnaroo 2011!
2. Bonnaroo seems to be some sort of mecca for people with really, really bad tattoos.
3. When the heat index is over 100 degrees, even the morbidly obese will be scantily clad.
4. Don't go to an outdoor music festival in the middle of Tennessee in June dressed in a wetsuit.  And if you do, go with friends you can trust not to leave you passed out on a random tarp in the mid-day sun.
5. 90% of the vendors at Bonnaroo are head-shops.
6. Do not go to Bonnaroo if you have issues with personal space.  You'll be much better off if you go in expecting to share the same 5ft of space with 25 sweaty, smelly people - I mean, 25 of your new closest friends.
7. Only thing worse than sitting in the sun when the temps are in the 90's with humidity hovering right around 95% - having to go into a filthy porta-potty in that same weather.
8. Don't sit near any fences/shrubs/trees/immovable objects - chances are someone has peed (or worse) there.
9. It is apparently perfectly acceptable at Bonnaroo for women to wear only what was advertised as "booby painting" as a top.  Use your imagination.
10. Smoking (regular cigarettes) is either much more prevalent still than I thought, or just moreso among the Bonnaroo types.
11. Do not expect to sleep past 7:00 a.m. in a tent in Tennessee in mid-June.
12. Bonnaroo has the best fried pickles we've ever had.
13. There is not much better on a boiling hot day than ice-cold, fresh-squeezed lemonade.  Pure amazingness in a plastic cup.
14. If you have a hard time seeing over the crowd, practice walking on stilts!

Musically, plans were up in the air for the last day of Bonnaroo.  Headed to Centeroo early to fill our Camelbak's up with water before the lines got really long.  Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself...on our way down there we stopped to get fried pickles (one of our all-time favorite foods), and they were absolutely delicious - even better than in they are in the Irish Pub in my old college town.  Mmmm...

Food isn't something we've discussed much in this series of Bonnaroo blogs as of yet.  Mostly because, in order to curb expenses, we packed our own peanut butter sandwiches, chips, and carrots for lunch every day.  We ended up buying something in Centeroo every night for dinner, trying two vegetarian burritos, some cheddar and jalepeno hush puppies (fantastic!), pizza, and a noodle bowl.  The hush puppies and noodle bowl with it's spicy sauce were the most stand-out dishes of the weekend.  But I digress...this is a music blog afterall!

Totally recommend seeing Ingrid Michaelson live if you ever get the chance.  She performed her new rock version of "The Way I Am", some other great songs with audience participation, such as "Mountain and The Sea", "The Hat", and of course, her infamous cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic".  That number is absolutely hilarious when it comes to the dancing at the end.  That performance solidified our plans for that coming Tuesday night to go see her at The Vogue back in Indianapolis.

Langhorne Slim played right before Brandi.  He's a singer/songwriter, and puts a hell of a lot of energy into his live shows.  This guy was bouncing around constantly - moving all over the stage from standing on the speakers set up in front of the stage to jumping off of the kick-drum.  At one point during his set, a kid wearing a "Langhorne Slim" shirt appeared onstage.  The kid jumped around with him during a song, then stood up there awkwardly until the band tried to shoo him offstage, and a guy in the photo pit had to help him down.

Then it was time for Brandi Carlile and crew to take the stage.  It is easily the hottest of Bonnaroo days thus far, and within minutes, Phil has sweated through his long-sleeve button-up shirt.  They played a typical bar or theater set, with the exception of the acoustic portion.  That just wouldn't have resonated with the venue or the crowd.  The band had a great energy level, even though they were sweating their asses off.  Tim had on a great shirt - it had some Hebrew lettering, and underneath it said "Shalom Y'all".  Hilarious!  Here's the setlist from that show:

• Josh (Cello Intro)
• Oh Dear
• Looking Out
• What Can I Say
• My Song
• Closer To You/I've Just Seen a Face (Beatles Cover)
• Dreams
• Turpentine
• The Story
• Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash Cover)
• Pride and Joy
• Mad World (Tears for Fears Cover)

It was so miserably hot after that show, that we decided to hang under the broo'ers tent and take advantage of the shade.  We heard some of Norah Jones' set, and The Avett Brothers, but the heat and threat of thunderstorms was enough to keep us from wandering closer to the Which Stage to get a better listen/view.

After a short period of rain, we made our way back to That Tent to catch some of John Prine's set.  We aren't familiar with his music, but there were some true die-hard fans there to see him.  From what I gather, he's a legend in country music.  This was the place to find a lot of the older Bonnaroo crowd on a Saturday afternoon.

Then it was time to head to the main stage - the What Stage for Stevie Wonder followed by Jay-Z.  Stevie Wonder still sounds amazing.  He is one of those guys that sings a TON of popular songs that you don't even remember are his until you hear him belting them out just as impressively as he did 20 or 30 years ago.  He really is an instution in the music industry.  The lawn area was packed for his show, and we had quite a few high and crazy dancers around us, which was the only thing detracting from the experience.

We only stayed for a few songs of Jay-Z's set, but he sounded good as well.  Instead of Alisha Keys, some random female vocalist sang with him on "Empire State of Mind", but she was pretty decent.  Not a bad way to end another great day of music at Bonnaroo.

So, our stuff is all set up, we head out to find the elusive "Centeroo" we've heard about.  As we are walking the couple of miles (yep, you heard that right, miles) from our tent to Centeroo, we notice that 95% of the vendors that aren't selling food are head-shops.  And that 90% of the people we pass are stopping to shop there.  This should be fun...Oh, and it's hot and extremely humid.  Like "I'd be drier in a swimming pool" levels of liquid in the air.