elrod-tom
Moderator - Prefers "stereo weirdo" to "audiophile"
Well, I just returned from a very pleasant night out with my wife. After a (very) quick dinner out at Outback Steakhouse (in and out in 35 minutes...and the meal was decent too
), it was off to Ann Arbor for an evening of great jazz with Diana Krall.
The venue in this case was Hill Auditorium - one of the better accoustic environments anywhere - on the campus of the University of Michigan. I've seen a handful of concerts there, the last being Peter Gabriel when I was a student at the U of M. It's safe to say that I've not seen an act that has taken advantage of the environment quite so well as Diana Krall. The sonics were absolutely perfect...wonderful!!
There was a funny moment, where she mentioned that she'd been in 3 cities in Michigan in one day - Detroit (at the airport, I'm assuming), Ann Arbor (of course), and Ypsilanti..."where the girls don't wear no panties".
Of course, anyone who has purchased the latest Elvis Costello album knows where THAT line came from.
She really has a very nice rapport with the audience...self effacing and at times VERY funny. Oh, and VERY talented too. Lady's got some real chops on the piano, and great pipes for jazz too. Oh, and nice to look at too.
This is the third time I've seen her in concert, and it's always a nice evening. The shows are always good, if not widely varying in content. Tonight, however, I was witness to something a little different and very special:
After opening with "I Love Being Here With You" and "Let's Fall In Love" (both pretty standard), the lights dimmed, the band stepped back, and she took over on the piano. At first, I didn't recognize the tune...then it hit me:
Tonight is the first night (I'm all but 100% certain of this) that she's played since Michael Jackson passed away. Wait...the song that she's playing was an instrumental of "I'll Be There". You could really tell that she was putting all she had into it...and what a genuinely emotional moment it was. Played in such a way that, as an audience member, you could feel the sadness and longing in it. The whole auditorium was silent and completely engrossed in what they were seeing and hearing. What a remarkable talent it must take to project that kind of emotion through the playing of one's instrument.
It was, to date, the most memorable, most moving moment that I've ever had at a concert. I'm getting chills all over again just thinking about it.
That's about all for tonight...I'll post more in the morning.
The venue in this case was Hill Auditorium - one of the better accoustic environments anywhere - on the campus of the University of Michigan. I've seen a handful of concerts there, the last being Peter Gabriel when I was a student at the U of M. It's safe to say that I've not seen an act that has taken advantage of the environment quite so well as Diana Krall. The sonics were absolutely perfect...wonderful!!
There was a funny moment, where she mentioned that she'd been in 3 cities in Michigan in one day - Detroit (at the airport, I'm assuming), Ann Arbor (of course), and Ypsilanti..."where the girls don't wear no panties".
Of course, anyone who has purchased the latest Elvis Costello album knows where THAT line came from.
She really has a very nice rapport with the audience...self effacing and at times VERY funny. Oh, and VERY talented too. Lady's got some real chops on the piano, and great pipes for jazz too. Oh, and nice to look at too.
This is the third time I've seen her in concert, and it's always a nice evening. The shows are always good, if not widely varying in content. Tonight, however, I was witness to something a little different and very special:
After opening with "I Love Being Here With You" and "Let's Fall In Love" (both pretty standard), the lights dimmed, the band stepped back, and she took over on the piano. At first, I didn't recognize the tune...then it hit me:
Tonight is the first night (I'm all but 100% certain of this) that she's played since Michael Jackson passed away. Wait...the song that she's playing was an instrumental of "I'll Be There". You could really tell that she was putting all she had into it...and what a genuinely emotional moment it was. Played in such a way that, as an audience member, you could feel the sadness and longing in it. The whole auditorium was silent and completely engrossed in what they were seeing and hearing. What a remarkable talent it must take to project that kind of emotion through the playing of one's instrument.
It was, to date, the most memorable, most moving moment that I've ever had at a concert. I'm getting chills all over again just thinking about it.
That's about all for tonight...I'll post more in the morning.
