What Concerts Have You Seen?

[Kel Varnsen]

I saw Lord Huron last night as they played Ottawa Jazz Festival. Prior to 2019 I never heard of them. But I saw them open for Arkells that year and still remember thinking how they were the best opening band I ever saw. And after last night I'm an even bigger fan.

Last night they were even better. Put on a really fun and energetic show. Even though it rained for part of it, it was such a warm night no one cared. Plus Ottawa Jazzfest was an interesting festival. I paid a bit extra for a platinum ticket. That gave me access to the area at the front of the stage where there was actually seating. Seating was just maybe 10 rows of folding camping chairs set up but I found a spot in the second row right in front of the bass player. They finished the show with the Neil Young song Harvest Moon which was kind of perfect.

[Annber03]

Oooh, I've heard a bit of Lord Huron - my sister really likes them and I like the couple songs I've heard by them. If their cover of "Harvest Moon" is anywhere online, I'll have to check that out. I love that song. 

[Kel Varnsen]

So it looks like it will be another year of three concerts for me again although not really by choice. As I mentioned I saw Lord Huron back in June. Then last night I saw Arkells again when they played the Ottawa City Folk festival. It was the fourth time I have seen them live and it was a good energetic show as usual. It was a bit short but considering it was the second time I have seen them in 10 months I can't really complain. And they are only really big in Canada so their tickets aren't crazy expensive.

Then tomorrow night I am going back to the City Folk festival, taking my 12 year old daughter to see David Kushner and Kaleo. She was super upset when we told her that even if we got tickets a trip to Toronto (with hotel and everything) to see Taylor Swift was not an option. So when she heard about this it made her feel better. And I told her if she could save her money to pay for her ticket I would take her. So we will see, not super excited about either act but willing to have an open mind.

[WendyCR72]

On 6/25/2023 at 10:13 PM, Kel Varnsen said:

I saw Lord Huron last night as they played Ottawa Jazz Festival. Prior to 2019 I never heard of them. But I saw them open for Arkells that year and still remember thinking how they were the best opening band I ever saw. And after last night I'm an even bigger fan.

Last night they were even better. Put on a really fun and energetic show. Even though it rained for part of it, it was such a warm night no one cared. Plus Ottawa Jazzfest was an interesting festival. I paid a bit extra for a platinum ticket. That gave me access to the area at the front of the stage where there was actually seating. Seating was just maybe 10 rows of folding camping chairs set up but I found a spot in the second row right in front of the bass player. They finished the show with the Neil Young song Harvest Moon which was kind of perfect.

I only heard of Lord Huron because of TCM, of all things. Lord Huron songs were used for the 2018 TCM Remembers and again last year for the 2022 edition:

2018:

2022:

The first one in 2018, I thought it was Jackson Browne [who I am admittedly not a fan of!] and was shocked I liked a song of his. Then I found out through the video above it wasn't him at all!

[Anduin]

I saw Magic Dirt on Saturday night, doing a tour for the 25th anniversary of one of their albums, Young and Full of the Devil. Apparently they lost the rights at some point, but got them back.

Anyway, it was weird. I've seen them several times before. Previously, their audience was all teens and twenties. We were generation X, young and awesome. Somehow this time it was all middle-aged people! When did that happen? What's that you're saying? GX + 25 = middle-aged? Never! Also, a friend previously claimed I wouldn't need earplugs. Believe me, I needed them. I'd forgotten how loud live music gets, but at least I was prepared.

Good show. They were full of energy and didn't miss a beat. The crowd was all well behaved that I could see. That's probably the upside to GX. All our wild youths are long in the past. We were there to see a great band, not stagedive or get into fights.

All in all, it was a good night out. I'll probably go again if they come back sometime.

[Rushmoras]

On Thursday, went to Aistė Smilgevičiūtė ir Skylė (local Lithuanian folk metal band that's been active since the nineties) concert in Vytautas Magnus University's Grand Hall. All 700 seats were filled. It was the best hour and a half.

Basically was this (see video below, for those who are interested), only with newer songs:

 

[Rushmoras]

Fresh out of Kaunas Philharmony in Lithuania. It was b-day "concert" of a local singer Jurga Šeduikytė. I put the word concert in brackets, because it was first time for me to witness such none-sense: 4 minutes of singing followed by 10 minutes of talking about herself. I mean, if the concert started sooner, like 6 PM, I probably would not have minded that, but when it started at 8 PM and ended at a little over 10 PM... Silver lining is that I did not pay for the tickets, because if I had, boy oh boy, I would have left an hour in to her performance...

Which is strange, because her concert last year in the Botanical Gardens was nothing like it was today.

[ebk57]

Good concert week for me! 

Saw Rhiannon Giddens on Monday.  She's so incredibly talented in everything.  She plays about a million instruments (favoring the banjo), writes wonderful songs and does a great thing in keeping the history of Americana music alive.  I'm still bitter that the Broadway show she was supposed to do was closed before she started.  And that was 8 years ago. 

Saw Jon Batiste last night.  He's brilliant.  And Trombone Shorty made a cameo appearance during the show-they've been friends since childhood and happened to end up in the same city at the same time.  How fortunate for me!!  I'm still recovering 24 hours later. 

[Annber03]

14 hours ago, ebk57 said:

Saw Jon Batiste last night.  He's brilliant.  And Trombone Shorty made a cameo appearance during the show-they've been friends since childhood and happened to end up in the same city at the same time.  How fortunate for me!!  I'm still recovering 24 hours later. 

Oh, lucky you! He'd be so fun to see in concert. Very cool about his friend showing up as well. 

[Rushmoras]

Yeah, so on Wednesday attended a local performer's Ovidijus Vyšniauskas (I'd actually say he's one of the music's dinosaurs in Lithuania) live concert in Kaunas at Pazaislis Monastery courtyard. At first I raised my eyebrow, because he was, I think a bit tipsy, and started talking about his life after singing like three or four songs (before having his band perform instrumentals) for like ten minutes, and then declaring: "Well, let's go on a fifteen minutes break" lol. But the second part of the concert was okey.

Edited June 8 by Rushmoras

[chitowngirl]

Not a concert I’ve seen, but Janet Jackson’s concerts must not be selling. She’s got one tomorrow night in my neck of the woods and there are STILL commercials on TV about it.

[Kel Varnsen]

1 hour ago, chitowngirl said:

Not a concert I’ve seen, but Janet Jackson’s concerts must not be selling. She’s got one tomorrow night in my neck of the woods and there are STILL commercials on TV about it.

Wow,  I am not a Janet Jackson fan but I was curious so looked it up and you can get tickets anywhere in the stadium, except the very front floor section for about $40 US a ticket. I am seeing the indie band Spoon in September and my ticket was around that price.

[Rushmoras]

On 7/5/2024 at 5:38 PM, Kel Varnsen said:

Wow,  I am not a Janet Jackson fan but I was curious so looked it up and you can get tickets anywhere in the stadium, except the very front floor section for about $40 US a ticket. I am seeing the indie band Spoon in September and my ticket was around that price.

Hmm, from what little I know from Internet browsing, I guess it's pretty cheap for USA's standards, no?

[Rushmoras]

Well, now, I can say that I've been to Ed Sheeran's concert in Kaunas, even though I haven't actually seen him.

Yesterday and today he was performing in open air (Darius and Girėnas Sports Stadium) that is located in the vicinity of Oak Park, and his music is actually heard almost throughout the entire park's environs.

So, yesterday, while taking a leisurely stroll heard loud and clear that he was singing in the stadium, and today decided to call in some friends and have picnic lol near the stadium on the grass. There was at least a couple of hundred people with us, who had the same idea. Haha.

Though, got to say, not really my cup of tea. Have heard in passing a couple of his songs, but, yeah, mostly, if I had been alone, I probably would have walked out after 30 mins. tops.

[Annber03]

Couple more concerts to add to my list from within these past couple weeks, both of which were at the iconic Surf Ballroom:

-Tommy James & the Shondells on August 30th

-Micky Dolenz (again - three times now I've seen him :D) this past Friday

Went with my mom to both shows (and my sister joined us for the Micky one), and they were both great concerts. The Tommy James one had a great extended thing with the song "Mony Mony" and the threw in "That'll be the Day" and "La Bamba" during that segment. And at Micky's show, he told some very entertaining stories and, alongside performing Monkees songs, did some covers of other artists' songs as well. He did a lovely version of Elton John's "Your Song", and did Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode", and Buffalo Springfield's "For What it's Worth", to name a few. 

And his sister, who was part of the band, got to perform a few songs (she did great versions of "You're No Good" and "Different Drum"). His band was fantastic, too, they were really fun to watch and everyone had a great interaction with each other on stage. 

And both Tommy and Micky's voices still sounded great as well, and the crowd was very into everything and receptive . Good times all around :). 

Edited September 15 by Annber03

[Rushmoras]

Fresh from Brit Floyd (Pink Floyd cover band) concert in Kaunas Žalgiris Arena in Lithuania. I guess they did everything right, but I just did not enjoy their set-list much.

Out of 2:30 hours, I probably enjoyed 30-45 min., if at that (High Hopes, Learning to Fly, Wish You Were Here, Us and Them, Another Brick in the Wall, and Comfortably Numb (you know, the songs that you'd recommend for anyone wanting to get in to Pink Floyd, which are not overly long or have overly weird guitar solos that go on forever).

The mixing quality in my opinion was meh - vocals barely heard over the instruments at majority of points.

Also, not a lot of people in the arena, only the front rows were filled (seated), with some people here and there sitting in the stands...

Edited September 20 by Rushmoras