God I feel old....Bon Jovi is releasing a collection of 50 songs, many unreleased, in honor of being around 20 years and selling 100 million albums. Damn...where the hell did 20 years go?
[This entry is crossposted as a guest post at Pesky Apostrophe]
Last night a friend and I went to Merriweather Post Pavillion in Columbia, Maryland to see one of my favorite artists, Sarah McLachlan in concert. With scattered strong thunderstorms forecast for the evening, I was really worried about whether having lawn seats for the show had been a wise idea. Fortunately, the storms rolled through by 4 pm and the rest of the evening was clear. And in Columbia, it hadn’t rained much, so the lawn was barely damp. We got there as the gates opened, so we were able to find fairly decent lawn seats with a good view of the screens and the stage below.
Before darkness set in, Butterfly Boucher (rhymes with voucher) opened for Sarah. She was pretty entertaining in spite of her simple poppish music. I’ve certainly seen worse opening acts, LOL.
By the time Sarah came on stage, the sun had set and dusk was setting in. The crowd was quite enthusiastic as she opened with a song off her new album. But I quickly was aghast at how thin Sarah had become and by the fact she didn’t sound so great for the first song or two. Fortunately, my apprehension eased a bit as her voice improved by the third song and by the fact she seemed more relaxed and into the performance. For two hours (including two encores) she performed material from her last three studio albums.
The mix of songs were great, and I did enjoy seeing her perform again, but all in all, I still come away with the impression that her voice had been much stronger during the summer of 1998 when I saw her perform for Lilith Fair. And all night I kept thinking that she is just way too thin now--much thinner than she was then. Almost sickly looking. Someone needs to tell that girl to eat. Maybe it’s much more grueling to be touring with a two-year old in tow. Or she has been ill recently. I dunno. But I felt sad to see her this way, no matter what the cause.
As for getting lawn seats again....sitting on chairs on the lawn was nice in that a cool breeze kept things pleasant, but having to deal with drunk, rude and/or disorderly youths roaming around in the dark lawn area during the performance did not thrill me to death. They didn’t give a shit that the rest of us paid money to watch a show. They were more interested in squeezing through the crowd to get closer or stumbling around drunk in search of more beer. One couple who were seated on a blanket next to us, ended up forced off their blanket because some drunk kids wandered onto their spot. The couple ended up standing. (Me, I would have told them to keep moving (in a more sassy way) , but these folks seemed unwilling to cause a confrontation.)
I’d definitely have to think twice before purchasing lawn seats again. But it may be that this will be the last season the Merriweather remains open. It seems that the people with homes neighboring the open air music venue want it closed because they find it too noisy and the traffic cumbersome. But my beef with that is....they knew that Merriweather was there when they bought their homes. The place has been around since the 60s. It’s not like they wouldn’t have known what they were getting into by buying a home next to a concert venue.
*sigh*
BTW... this review from a July concert seems to cover Sarah’s performance last night. It mentions her voice was an issue a month ago, as well.
And I must add that Sarah dedicated Building a Mystery to George W. *snicker* (Lyrics in extended text)
you come out at night
that’s when the energy comes
and the dark side’s light
and the vampires roam
you strut your rasta wear
and your suicide poem
and a cross from a faith
that died before Jesus came
you’re building a mystery
you live in a church
where you sleep with voodoo dolls
and you won’t give up the search
for the ghosts in the halls
you wear sandals in the snow
and a smile that won’t wash away
can you look out the window
without your shadow getting in the way
oh you’re so beautiful
with an edge and a charm
but so careful
when I’m in your arms
(chorus)
‘cause you’re working
building a mystery
holding on and holding it in
yeah you’re working
building a mystery
and choosing so carefully
you woke up screaming aloud
a prayer from your secret god
you feed off our fears
and hold back your tears
give us a tantrum
and a know it all grin
just when we need one
when the evening’s thin
oh you’re a beautiful
a beautiful fucked up man
you’re setting up your
razor wire shrine
Anyone have any new music to reccommend? Anything 'off the beaten path'....I tend to like ecclectic stuff. I'm looking to buy some new music CDs. In the meantime I'm browsing my favorite lyrics website.
I had heard this a week or two ago, but I finally dug up a reference to it. Sarah McLachlan is due release a new album in early 2002 and she's *due* to give birth to her and Ash's first child in March. Lots of exciting news for my favorite songstress and siren. *g*