5/11/05 in Norfolk
This was a special night for us. We were going to see the
artist Brian had in his cd walkman when I first spoke to him. I was nervous
because it was in downtown Norfolk, by ODU. I dread finding my way around
there, so I studied Mapquest for hours. I had no trouble getting there, which
was a pleasant surprise. The key…less turns the better and on the centers
website their directions had none so I opted for that choice. We even were
there a whole hour and a half early! I already love living on this side of the
water for that very reason. It was beautiful outside so we strolled around the
new building. “Ivy, if we’re the only ones dressed up, I’ll feel like a
dumbass” “So what, who cares? This is our special night” and there were couples
dressed up…not to mention a good number of lesbian couples. Lol. Wonder what
Sarah thinks of that? That’s one reason I love concerts, you see different
types of people at each show, depending on what kind of music it is. We had
great seats, right on the floor, about 13 rows back…that is IF people kept
their seat and not blocked my view by standing up. Brian reassured me they
wouldn’t; this was more low-keyed after all. He was right too; at least until
the last 5 songs or so, she saved her upbeat songs for last. Thank goodness for
those screens they put up, I wouldn’t have been able to see anything. There
were a handful of disabled people there, which was cool. Once we thought we saw
Sunny, but it wasn’t her. After the show, when it was quiet enough to talk, I
induced myself to the girl next to me and the three of us talked for a while.
She was a bigger fan than us it sounded like; I hope she keeps in touch.
When she first came out, it seemed like she was surprised to see a packed house, it was cute. I love humbleness. It was incredible to hear her voice…it’s so perfect, and to hear it in person, gave me goose bumps. We were close enough to see her take in big breaths before a long note, which I thought was cool to see. We also notice her mole by her eye…they must airbrush that out on album covers. Lol. She poked fun at herself for always writing about love, and talked about her daughter and husband some, which was neat. She did renditions of “Blackbird” by The Beatles and “Salisbury Hill” by Peter Gabriel. She’ll never do this because she’s too good to copout…. but she ought to release a CD with nothing but remakes. It’s awesome to hear that voice sing classic songs like that. Than again, some artists do, maybe she will. It was comforting to know that “angel” gets her teary eyed as well. After that song, they could’ve passed Kleenexes around to everybody. The stage was something else. We really got our money’s worth I think. They had so many instruments up there, two sets of drums, two pianos/keyboards, plus the band members. I didn’t realize how many were in the band…two guitarist, one backup singer, drummer, and keyboard player. THEN there was the elaborate background. Three tree looking things, with screens in between that dazzled the crowed with lights and designs. After about the second song, I looked up and saw branches (for the three trees I suppose) above it all. One side of the stage, opposite the grand piano, was fake grass and rock. During the show they used it to sit on, it looked pretty cool I thought…very Lord of the Rings-ish, but with a Sarah flare.
I wish I could replay the experience again and again, it
was that good. I didn’t get much time to think about it afterwards, because
Brian and I were off camping in Blue Ridge the next day! Blue Ridge pictures HERE
Other Concerts
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Dave
Matthews Band with Autograph |
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