Thursday, July 29, 2004

Sarah McLachlan in Atlanta...wow!

[We also went to see the Curiosa festival in Tampa last Sunday night. I will post on that as I get time. Too many concerts in one week for me. ;-p Rush on Friday. Woohoo!]

Well, now that I got a few hours sleep, I figure I can post a bit on last night's show. Sarah's show
was phenomenal. It was great to meet and hang out with some new fumbler friends. Lora and her
brother Matt showed up at our meeting place (Mama Ninfa's Mexican Restaurant in downtown
Atlanta) first. They drove all the way from Huntsville, AL (not a far as we did from Gainesville, but still a haul!). We also got to meet Anya and Stoneface. It was great to really meet both of them for the first time. We did almost meet Anya once when we were on the UT campus in Knoxville, but we we're patrons of the rival football team in town, so we more than understand. Really we do. ;-)

After Ninfa's, we hoofed it over to the Philips Arena for the main event. All of us picked up our tickets and we were all in the first five rows! :-o Stoneface and Anya had the best seats, with second row center, but we weren't bad either with row 5 stage left.

Sarah's band was superb, playing a whole slew of songs from her last 3 studio albums. We did have glowsticks for the opportune moments (since there are no more raves here in Gainesville, ya gotta use 'em for something, right?), and Sarah seemed happy to see them. Her band was in fine form, with veteran bassist Brian Minato and husband/drummer Ash Sood holding the rhythm down. Guitarists Sean Ashby and Luke Doucet added panache (wow, when was the last time I used that word?) to Sarah's performance. Keyboardists Dave Kershaw and Vince Jones along with vocalist Kathryn Rose rounded out the lineup. All except the latter are veterans of Sarah's band, either of the recent or distant past. Rose is a welcome addition, adding a solid personality to the mix. As Lora mentioned in her blog, Sarah's guitar pick drop was quite humorous for those who caught it, but one of the most memorable moments came during the first encore when Sarah had a bit of fun with glitter. During "Ice Cream," Rose was standing in front of us with a small cup in her hand while she was singing. I immediately thought it was an adult beverage of some kind, especially after reading the exploits on her blog! :-p At the end of the song, I found out its true purpose, however, when Rose cast it to the sky, letting glitter fly across the stage. When Sarah returned to center stage, she picked up a piece of glitter, licked it, and stuck it in the middle of her forehead! That's where it remained the remainder of the show. I wish I was able to get a picture or two of her after that point, but ushers were being quite adamant against the use of flash photography, which was really understandable from the musicians' points of view. I did manage to click around and get a few pictures and will show them soon.

For now, though, it's back to watching the Democratic Convention roll call. I do have some parting words for the folks we met yesterday evening, however:

Anya - glad to see your strong support (and tight t-shirt :-p) for John Kerry. Let's make it a reality in November! We'll buy you a pint at McSorley's this fall if all goes well.

Lori - it was great seeing you as well. Your brother Matt seemed like a very cool guy. Hopefully we can do it again real soon.

Stoneface - the enigma is finally revealed! :-) Thanks so much for making our humble fumblerumble. ;-) Sorry you guys got stuck with those xtra tix, especially considering their location. :-o I see you enjoyed the show immensely, though. Hopefully you won't wait another 15 years for another concert! ;-)

That's all for now. G'nite all!

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