Good afternoon Friends and welcome. First of all, I’d like to thank author Missouri Vaun (aka Paige Braddock) for sharing last week. Her new book, ‘Crossing the Wide Forever’ is now out. I will be looking for discussion soon.
The weather has been very nice and is perfect to be spending outside. It is almost summer and time for outdoor concerts. Last year we had the opportunity to see Alabama Shakes at the former Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre and had a blast. You can click the link below to read more.
Going to concerts, both outdoor and indoor, has been a big part of my life since I was in early high school. Being from the Motor City, I was able to see such bands as 70’s rockers J. Geils Band and 80’s New Wave group, Inxs at an outdoor venue called Pine Knob. These bands rocked my world and I lived to see live music.
This year we went to the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles to see 80’s sensation rocker Elvis Costello. The theatre is in a park setting and is surrounded by mature pine trees, giving the venue an enchanting feeling as I walked along the walkways. I really like this venue because it is in such a pretty setting.
The place was packed with people from all ages. Unlike other concerts, for the most part people stayed seated in their seats. What was really surprising was that there was no warmup band. This was a first for me since usually they have one or two bands opening the show, but the curtain went up at 8pm.
Elvis came out dressed in his pink hat holding his guitar which he immediately broke into a melody. This guy can play a mean guitar and I was moved by his playing. Here he played another side to him. There were bluesy rock chords that really tuned into my heart. I was surprised because I never knew he played other types of music. This was a treat to my ears. We sat back and enjoyed these new sounds.
The artist is a really charming guy and I was touched when he told stories about his music. This gave him depth and made me feel another appreciation of him. He can be funny at times and his enthusiasm showed in his playing.
I like that they put up big screens to show him in action. This one above shows him in his element and as you can see, he is really in the moment. Even though people were seated, it was crowded so I wasn’t able to have a clear view of the stage at times. This bottom one shows my view but I took the picture holding my camera above my head. My view was great.
What I like was that everyone was respectful. I am really grateful for this. Too many times I’ve been to live concerts where stuff happens due to a misunderstanding. Not tonight and I applaud the venue for keeping everything in check. Like the baseball games, they had metal detectors, which created a bottleneck to get in. Nothing to worry though. Once I was in, I breathed in deep and inhaled the pine scent that was in the air.
Early in the show he cranked out ‘Watching the Detectives,’ a long-time favorite of mine. The song really sounded fantastic in the live setting. It has a timeless appeal and I know I’ll be listening to it for years to come.
As the night went on, we listened to the music, although, I was unfamiliar with most of it. Still my heart beat with joy and I danced and sang along. This is the way I like live musical events. It was loud and I could feel the vibration of the music. It had a positive feel and got me grooving with the beat.
About 2/3 the way into the show, he and the band left the stage, leaving us in the dark. We started cheering on and a few minutes later, they all returned to bang out some more great tunes. Then of course, it wouldn’t be an Elvis Costello show without his hits ‘Alison’ and ‘Every day I write the book.’ What fascinated me was the artwork that was showed for each song he played. Some of it was psychedelic looking and others were abstract art. It was really outstanding.
The concert was long; he played for almost three hours total. This was a real treat for me because of the fact that he was the only band playing. I have to give him a lot of credit because it is hard being up on stage for hours under all those hot lights. The show was spectacular and I still wanted more.
I walked out of there feeling on a high. We plan on attending more live musical shows this year. One thing that I’m really glad that we did was call Uber for a ride to and from the show. That saved us the headache of parking that we usually encounter at the baseball games.
I really enjoyed myself at this concert and am glad that we went. This venue is a nice place for concerts so if any of you are local, I’m recommending a nice evening at the Greek Theatre.
You can click this link for more information about this venue.
Feel free to share your concert experiences in the comments below. We’d love to hear your stories.
Stay tuned next week for my interview with author Jen Silver, whose new book, ‘Running from Love,’ debuted on Jun-2-17.
Until Next Time,
Lynn
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Lynn Lawler's Creative Artists' Blog 