A tale of two concerts

I haven't been to a concert since the Dave Matthews concert in 2003. And over the span of one week, I went to two concerts. One different different from the other in many aspects. One band a funk/rock band from California that has been around for almost twenty years and a fairly brand new folk artist from Philadelphia. One was in a giant New Jersey stadium. One was in a small New York City theatre. One had lights, pyrotechnics, confetti. One had lights. But, one thing was similar, both concerts were awesome!

Tuesday, October 17th
A pouring Tuesday night was started down at MSG. I met Roy there and Pete and Mike picked us up near Penn Station and we were on our way to the Jers in the steady, cold rain. We all dressed in how we thought the kids were dressing these days and made fun of ourselves for being out of the "hip" loop.

We were hooked up with Prepaid parking, which is right next to the venue, the Continental Airlines arena. We chilled out in the parking structure, having a few beers and then we headed in.

We didn't care to see Mars Volta, so we ended up in our seats right before the Chilis came on. It was definitely a very young crowd. It made us feel quite old. I was actually surprised to see that many young people and it made me remind me of times when I used to head to concert a lot. I was trying to compare the RHCPs to a group that was around when I was a teenager that compare to them, where the young listeners were about the same as "older" listeners. The closest thing would be the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin.

We had sweet seats, on the right hand side of the stage on the far end. Then the Chili Peppers came on stage. As expected by the reviews of the Chilis, the started with Can't Stop. That got the crowd going. They still move around a lot on stage. They did a mix of new stuff from Stadium Arcadium like Snow (Hey Oh), 21st Century, and Tell Me Baby and plenty of Californication like Scar Tissue and Californication, and classics, like Suck My Kiss. John Fusciante still amazes to impress me with his great guitar skills.

The crowd never sat down, the place was full of energy. They still sound great and it was well worth the money I spent.

October 24th, Amos Lee
On the other end of the spectrum was the Amos Lee concert. This did not involve a long commute. In fact it was right by where I work, in Times Square at the Town Hall. I looked at the website to see the layout and my seats were about 6 rows from the front, so I knew this would be a more intimate show.

Before we went to the concert, Roy and I went out to eat at the BXL cafe. This great Belgian restaurant that was right next to the Town Hall. I was actually surprised at how good the food was. Most restaurants in Midtown are catered towards the millions of tourists that come through New York. This felt like it fit somewhere outside of Times Square. It was not short on Belgian beers and the food hit the spot.

As we left the restaurant, we started to see the crowd that was waiting outside of the Town Hall. It was completely different, to no surprise, than the Chili crowd. Mostly between 25 and 35. More people I would hang out with. We headed in and they had a small bar and we had a beer. The lights flickered on and off to tell us an artist was coming on. There were two warm up acts, Kevin So and Mindy Smith. Kevin So came on first. He is an Asian folk singer with a very soulful voice. He only played four songs, but I liked his sound. I could relate to his lyrics. Next up was Mindy Smith. She is a local Long Islander who moved to Nashville and started her career with a duet with Dolly Parton and grew from there. She started out with her song "Come to Jesus", which is not a Christian rock song. It was pretty good. She was alright but all her songs sounded the same. We headed out to the front until Amos Lee.

When we were out there, Kevin So was meeting the patrons. Roy and I ended up talking to him. Good kid. He's playing in December, so we'll probably go see him again.

Then the main act came on, Amos Lee. I have been wanting to see him for the last year, but something has come up everytime that he has been in concert. I ended up listening to a few of his songs on Itunes two summers ago and I was immediately drawn to his lyrics. I was my favorite album of 2005. When I found out he was coming in October, I immediately picked up tickets. He also had a new album come out in the beginning of October, Supply and Demand, so he had some new songs.

He came out with his band, all close friends of his from Philly, and the crowd applauded him before he even started singing. No frills. He just started playing his songs, starting with Seen It All Before, on of my favorite songs from his first album. Since he is a newer artist, he played most of his first and second albums along with new songs that weren't on either album. He was very personable with the crowd and there was plenty of interactions. It was more like a VHI Storytellers show where he explained why he wrote the song or where. His guitar player was very, very good and he was able to play horns, mandolin, and several electric guitars. He played nearly two hours of great music.

Nobody ever left their seat until the crowd gave him a standing ovation when he was done. He even told us when he was going to go off the stage and come back for an encore. He definitely kept it lose, kept it tight (his last song also!). I was so glad I finally made it to his concert and can't wait till he comes in again!