Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Skip Loves Odd Men

Last night, Nat and I went to the 'Odd Men Out' concert at Davies Symphony Hall. The show consisted of Ben Lee, Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright in punctual succession.

Here are my thoughts...

(1) I need a camera with night vision. Or, I need to learn how to focus.
(2) Never go to another concert that is not in Symphony Hall. The acoustics were incredible! Every sound was perfectly amplified and hung crisply in the air. The singers' voices were almost unnaturally clear and seemingly pitch-perfect (most of the time), it was as if each note had its own speaker. It was actually kind of creepy and most definitely wonderful. My poor face is still aching from smiling for 3 hours.
(3) Ben Folds is quite funny and very clever, a little bit of tongue-in-cheek. It's precious. He is also refreshingly humble and dorky and despite some lyrical nightmares, like 'Gracie,' he is an incredible song writer and musician.
(4) Just because you are at Symphony Hall does not mean that the crowd is a more sophisticated, 'symphony' crowd. It merely means that they are drunk off cheap wine rather than cheap beer. An eager fan rushed the stage when Ben Folds was playing and there was an 'altercation' in the crowd while Rufus was playing. It was all very exciting.
(5) Even though I might love the song 'Vicious World' apparently Rufus does not.
(6) Ben Folds likes doing his own renditions of Snoop & Dr. Dre songs.
(7) I'm so not kidding. Rufus was wearing Tevas (or Chacos or some other earthy mandal). What was even more bizarre was the juxtaposition of this footwear with a sequined plaque belt.
(8) It is confirmed. 'Hallelujah' gives me the chills.