David Gray w. Aqualung

Last night I finally got to take a few friends up on a late birthday present. The giving was not late, but the present was, and worth the wait. They had bought some David Gray concert tickets for his concert on Nov 2, which happens to be my birthday. Unfortunately, the concert was cancelled last minute because of some throat problems.

Fast forward to yesterday. It had been a busy day, and for some reason, it just seemed terribly random to be going to a concert. I was rather tired, but once we stepped inside verizon wireless theater and heard aqualung, I was ready. I was really excited to see aqualung, have listened to him for a while and have wanted to check him out in concert (originally, he was not on the bill). We walked into the middle of "Strange and Beautiful", one of my favorite songs. Unfortunately it was well over by the time we found our seats ("Yes sir, these are right down there in the middle.", we were on the opposite aisle and had the adventurous task of weaving through a jungle of seated torsos [and there is always the fight club dilemma, do you pass with the crotch or the ass?).


aqualung

The second song they played I had never heard, but at the end they deconstructed into a sort of radiohead-like beautiful sound garden. We showed up late, so only caught four or five songs, but it was a great show.

After the set change, the lights dimmed and the crowd rumbled, the band flew out, with the drummer going nuts trying to hype the crowd even more. David then came out and sat at the piano. He started playing, and when he started to sing, I was impressed with the quality of his voice, it is even better live than on the cd's. Then his cellist started in, the timbre of the strings mixed with his vocals was prodigious.

I have always admired the percussive precision displayed in his records, and have just assumed it was due to the use of a drum machine. To my bewilderment, his drummer is just that good. He did not miss a beat the entire concert, his hands were a steady blur, with a stick twirl into a dramatic pose at the end of each song.

The middle/end of the concert became a little slow. It may be because of the two beers, but it seemed that his choice of several mellow tunes in a row put me into a state of sweet sleep. I finally stirred, and tapped my foot to the beat to try to keep myself attentive. He brought the tempo of the songs back up and I was fine.

He started his encore with babylon, and followed with three more tunes to end the concert.

One of my favorite aspects of the concert was the lighting during David Gray. The had a large screen behind the band, and had spotlights to silhouette the individual members as they played. It was a virtual dreamscape, perfectly blending visual beauty to the sound of piano, cello, and drums. My favorite show was when a giant fuzzy edged david gray was projected in the center, with the crisp shadow of the cellist looming low in the corner, the outline of her body flowing into that of her instrument.

By the end of the concert, I was ready for bed, but that had to do with physical exhaustion, the concert was great.

jp