Sunday, July 28, 2013

Lumineers at Merriweather, July 26, 2013

Lumineers at Merriweather, 7-26-13

Lumineers at Merriweather, 7-26-13
Eric and I went to Lumineers at Merriweather a couple nights ago on the best weather night of the entire summer. We had seats smack dab in the middle of the audience, near the sound guys and the private booths, so an amazing view. Even better, we had some very civilized people in front of us who also preferred to sit, so we got to see a lot of the show while seated! (Except when the Lumineers singer cajoled everyone into standing in the middle of the set - damn him!)

The first opener, The Dig, was so forgettable that I had trouble remembering them mere seconds after their set ended. The second opener, Joe Pug, was a county singer-songwriter I wish I could have forgotten as quickly. Eric and I counted down the moments until his set was due to end. Dana and Sharon arrived just before Lumineers began. There were tons of empty seats near us, so they sat behind us instead of 20+ seats down the row. The real owners of the seats never showed up, so we sat together the whole time.

Lumineers where exceptionally good. They had lots of energy on stage, and even employed a cute gimmick of doing a couple songs on the side walk in front of the lawn audience. The group started as a trio and officially expanded to a 5 piece band in 2012. I think they previewed a couple new songs. The one that we all loved was this one. It featured Neyla Pekarek and Wesley Schultz in a retro-sounding duet. They also played most, if not all, of their 2012 debut album, and were kind enough to play the hits in the middle of the set, so I didn't feel bad leaving during the last song before the encore. One thing I noticed: Wesley, the lead singer, wears a hat to hide great hair, not to hide thinning hair as I assumed. His hair is so good, he doesn't look like he should be singing folk when it's uncovered. The staging consisted of 3 chandeliers and 3 small platforms for the cello, drums, and upright piano. It was spare, but worked well. The lighting was good but not over the top. Sound quality was really clear, but overly loud, as usual.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Camera Obscura and She & Him at Wolf Trap, July 11, 2013

A really poor excuse for a photo of Camera Obscura at Wolf Trap

Eric and I drove Genevieve and her friend to this show, then met up with our friends John and Kat as well as Layla. Genevieve and her friend grabbed a spot close in with a bit of a view. Eric, John, Kat, and I set up camp on the upper hill which has absolutely no view at all (and Wolf Trap does not have a screen for the lawn seat folks.) Layla went back and forth between the two spots.

The music was beautiful, though I honestly was more intent on socializing with John and Kat, who we seldom see, than listening. I did go down the hill a few times to check out the view. I snapped a contraband photo of Camera Obscura while there. Camera Obscura has very little going on performance-wise, though She & Him had some nice lighting and moving about on stage.

Getting out of the Wolf Trap parking lot took at least an hour of sitting and waiting in an unmoving line.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Fun. and Tegan and Sara, Satuday, July 20, 2013 at Merriweather

Tegan and Sara 7/20/13 at Merriweather.


This show was Natalie's 8th Bday present.

Me and Natalie

Fun. at Merriweather 7/20/13



Eric, Natalie and I went to the Fun. show last night in honor of Natalie's 8th birthday. When the tickets went on sale many months ago, Natalie was in love with Fun., listening to their music non-stop. She knows most of the words to most of the songs, but thankfully doesn't know what all of the references are about. Dana, Sharon, and Rachel were also all at this show, but we were in seats, so we didn't really get to hang out much.

The evening was insanely hot and humid at the beginning for this sold-out show at Merriweather Post Pavilion (approx. 20,000 people), and then there was a huge thunderstorm between the two acts. Rachel had the misfortune of lawn seats and didn't stay for most of Fun., but since she was there for Tegan and Sara, it sounds like she didn't mind so much.

Tegan and Sara put on a great show, really. If you were a fan, I am positive you would have felt extremely happy about seeing them live. They had impressive stage production with videos projected behind them and they were very friendly and engaging to the audience. I wish I liked their music, but I still don't.  This is how clueless I sometimes am: I had no idea that Tegan and Sara has a strong lesbian following. Um, duh!

Fun. was INCREDIBLE live. They absolutely lived up to their name. Even Eric, who is not a fan, said he was impressed by how good they were as performers and that the stage production was extremely good.  They had screens all over the background and the stage platforms and the best lights show I've ever seen. There was even a costume change between the first and second numbers and confetti cannons near the end. The artists were engaging (though a bit potty-mouthed, which of course Natalie heard.) You could hear the singing loud and clear above the instruments, and we had a pretty good view from our center MM row seats.  SO worth the admission price. Loved it!  We skipped the encore to get out of the packed parking lot before the crowd.