Back At It; Time to Catch Up!

So I haven’t posted since 2020 when the pandemic shut down my ambitious 50th birthday goal of seeing 50 bands/performers in that milestone birthday year. I think I saw five performances and then the everything shut down. But as we have emerged from a world of isolating, I definitely made up for that year and have thoroughly enjoyed seeing so much amazing live music. I regret that I didn’t write about these shows right after I saw them but I guess better late than never. So here we go…

9/2/2021: Bella White and Old Hat Stringband at The Word Barn in NH. I had not heard of either of these artists but a co-worker had an extra ticket and asked if I’d like to meet him for this show. I had never been to The Word Barn but what a treat. Such a special spot and a perfect way to transition back into seeing live music since it is outside and not that crowded. We were basically sitting in someone’s backyard; enjoying the string lights and bonfire and of course the amazing music. I thoroughly enjoyed both artists and was blown away by how young Bella White was (I think 19 or 20 at the time) and how talented she is. Flash forward…she played at Newport Folk Festival this past summer. Go, Bella!

11/4/2021: Noah Kahan headlines at House of Blues in Boston. Blake Rose and Genevieve Stokes opened up. This was such a FANTASTIC show. I went with my younger daughter and loved every second of every song. And Noah was humble and overwhelmed and also seemed to enjoy every second of every song. If you are curious about what he played, you can check out the setlist here. I first saw Noah Kahan in November of 2017 when he was opening up for the Strumbellas at The Orpheum. I remember coming home after the show and telling my family that I saw this very talented young man from Vermont (he was 20 at the time) and that we should pay attention to his career. We were so excited when we started to hear his songs on XM radio and in the supermarket. The show at HOB felt like he had officially arrived and was a true rock star. I had seen him open up for George Ezra at HOB in 2018 but here he was headlining. So cool! Little did we know that this was just the beginning of his meteoric rise to stardom. More about Noah Kahan a little later…

2/11/2022: Marc Cohn at City Winery in Boston. This is one of my favorite venues to see live music. The main (larger) stage has a 300 person capacity and you reserve your seat at shared dining tables. Doors typically open 2 hours before the show and you can come early for yummy food and drinks. I love that you don’t have worry about jockeying for position as you do in a general admission show and I also love that you don’t have to stand for the entire night. Food/drink service typically continues through the first part of the show and overall it is a great way to experience live music. Pre-pandemic my husband and I saw Joan Armatrading as well as Joni Mitchell there. We also saw Marc Cohn there pre-pandemic so this was not the first time I’ve seen him in concert. He puts on a great show, is a wonderful storyteller and one of the fun highlights of the show was his performance of the “Walking in Staten” version of his “Walking in Memphis” song. This had aired on SNL in November of 2021 and it is hysterical. Be sure to check it out if you have not seen it before.

3/9/2022: Lawrence the Band at The Fete Music Hall in Providence. Let’s back up a couple of months so that you I can explain how I first heard about this extremely talented band. My friend from Martha’s Vineyard shared a video with me in January of 2022 and simply said “You have to hear this!! Oh my gosh! Wow!” And she was right. This is so, so good. I could not get enough of this video and watched it on repeat as well as shared it with a number of other people and then watched it a bunch more times. It felt so good to see and hear young people enjoying their craft and performing a song that just makes you feel awesome. Especially after two years of living mostly in isolation. My husband was equally hooked and began to research the band, who they are, where they are from (ties to both NYC and Brown University) and where we might be able to see them. Well we were in luck! It turns out they were playing a rescheduled (2x) show in Providence and there were still tickets available. So on a snowy night in March, we drove down to Providence to see Lawrence The Band. In addition, we were introduced to two other Brown based performers; Orange Guava Passion and Chance Emerson. Overall a great show and a super fun night hanging out with a bunch of college aged fans. Here is the setlist for Lawrence The Band. Oh and be sure to check out Chance Emerson as well; he had amazing stage presence and is a talented young man.

6/3/2022: The Lumineers at Xfinity Center in Mansfield. I have been a Lumineers for a long, long time (I wrote about them in a blog post from December of 2012) and had yet to see them in concert. They played at Newport Folk Festival in 2013 but we were unable to go on the day that they were performing. And there were likely other times that they were within earshot but I couldn’t make it work. So it had been a long time that I was looking forward to this show. Added bonus….Caamp was the opening band. Sadly, we got stuck in a ridiculous amount of traffic and missed most of Caamp’s set. Sigh. But The Lumineers did not disappoint and we had a great time at the show with friends. Check out the setlist here.

6/10/2022: The Head And The Heart at Leaderbank Pavilion in Boston. A week after The Lumineers and we were off to see another great band. This time it was a family affair which is a rarity for the four of us. I LOVE Leaderbank Pavilion; it is one of my favorite places to see live music. It is easy to get to, parking is not too much of a hassle and it such a beautiful spot right on the water. This was the 2nd time that I had seen THATH in concert and I was super excited about this tour. I had been listening to the Every Shade of Blue album on repeat and knew all of the songs. We had pretty good seats which only ended up getting better since the rest of row remained empty and we were able to move in closer to the middle. Jade Bird was the opener and you can check out the combined setlists here.

6/21/2022: Jack Johnson at Bank of NH Pavilion in Gilford, NH with Durand Jones and the Indications opening up the show. Jack Johnson has been on our bucket list for many years. I had reservations about going to this concert since Gilford is almost 2 hours away from our home. But Rob assured me that it would be worth it and that he would drive home after the show. Flash forward to the week of the concert and Rob got Covid and couldn’t go to the show. Noooooo! I went with my younger daughter and while we had a great time, I was definitely stressed about the ride home and ended up watching the clock and calculating how late we’d get home on a “school” night. Sadly, we left before he played some of our favorite songs; check-out the setlist here. I was happy to check Jack Johnson off the bucket list (at least for me) but made a note to myself….no more shows at the NH Pavilion.

7/10/2022: Toad The Wet Sprocket, Gin Blossoms and Barenaked Ladies at Leaderbank Pavilion in Boston. This was a concert that I was supposed to see in the summer of 2020 with a former co-worker as part of my year of birthday music celebrating. It was fun to travel back in time and remember all those fun songs from the 90s. And always special to spend time with my friend who I only see once a year.

8/30/2022: Ben Folds at the Emerson Colonial Theater in Boston. I was first introduced to Ben Folds when he was part of Ben Folds Five and he was opening up for Heather Nova at The Paradise in 1995. He is one of the most memorable opening acts (other than Noah Kahan) that I’ve ever seen – what a dynamic performer and talented musician. There is something nice about going to a show at a theater where there is no opening band, everyone sits through the performance, and the show starts early and ends early. The energy level was not quite as high as his ’95 levels, but Ben has honed is storytelling skills and it was a super entertaining to see him all these years later.

10/21/2022: Noah Kahan at The Calvin Theater in Northampton, MA with Adam Melchor opening up the show. When my daughter and I saw Noah Kahan at the HOB almost a year ago, his voice was starting to go and he ended up rescheduling a couple of the following dates from the “I Was/I Am” tour. One of those rescheduled shows was his Northampton gig and we were able to get tickets to see him again. Little did we know that Stick Season would be released about a week before the show and we were one of the first stops on the beginning of this unbelievable ride. It was probably the one of the smallest venues on this tour with the theater capacity at around 1400 and we got there early enough to be pretty close to the stage; only 5 rows deep! Noah was blown away by the fact that the crowd knew all the words to all of the new songs he played. And I was blown away (not really) by the young woman who was screaming (not singing) the words directly in my ear. It was definitely impacting our ability to enjoy the show and I finally let her know that while I appreciated her enthusiasm she really needed to stop screaming in my ear. Check out his playlist here.

And that’s a wrap for the 2022 (and one 2021) concert season. Stay tuned to hear about my concert adventures in 2023….