Painting the Silence

I had to pick myself up off the floor after falling when my sister agreed to go to a concert with me. I can’t remember the last concert she went to. She can probably count them on one hand. So, while the night was routine for me, it was a much bigger deal for her. To clarify, when I say ‘a bigger deal,’ I am not referring to how stoked we were to see the band. We were equally excited about that. I’m referring to the planning that goes into an evening like this. She wondered if we should have bought the tickets ahead of time. She emailed from work with questions like, “Will there be available parking?” and “How early should we get there?” She was baffled by the fact that a band like Thriving Ivory, who has a billboard chart topper single and held roughly a month long slot on VH1’s JumpStart, couldn’t fill a small room with tickets going for $ 13 at the door. Or that we could get there right as the opening band was about to go on, purchase our vouchers, and still have time for a bathroom pit stop before missing anything. I can’t believe it either but I expect it because these are the kind of shows I go to. It’s surreal when a group whose video you saw on television everyday for a month is standing not even a foot from you. They sell their own merchandise and they stay after to mingle with their crowd. They’re not a big deal yet but they’re on their way. You can’t ignore the rising stars on VH1’s “You Oughta Know.”

Without further ado, let me introduce you to the first opening band, Evangeline. As soon as they started playing their first song, “Rain,” from their debut album We’re Alright Down Here, I leaned into Lindsey to say that they sounded straight up Southern/Christian rock. I thought that they sounded a lot like Jars of Clay and Jonathan Barrick as the lead singer sounded especially like Dan Haseltine who leads Jars of Clay. The Jars song “Lesser Things” flashed through my head and the lyrics, ‘Is there grace for a wayward heart?’ It brought me back to my sophomore year at Michigan State University. I used to listen to a lot of Christian rock bands. I go way back to the bootlegs with some Contemporary Christian material, for instance, Switchfoot and Third Day.

Evangeline did a song called “Mississippi Line” and I initially thought it was about someone who’s ready to die. Someone who has lived a good long life and it’s time. However, I think the song might actually be about starting over. Either way, it was a pretty song. The last song was called “Arizona” and Barrick introduced it as ‘a song about letting it go. Like rolling down your windows and letting the air blow through your hair.’ Come to find that he had made small talk out of his own lyrics because those are, in fact, the words to the song. Below please find their video for “We’re Alright Down Here.” It was shot in Houston, Texas on Main Street downtown. Those from Houston will recognize McElroy’s Irish Pub, the Greyhound station, and the bus heading to Fannin St.

We’re Alright Down Here

1. Rain
2. Wait For Morning
3. Mississippi Line
4. Evangeline
5. All I Am
6. Arizona

Next up were the Warehouse regulars, the 71’s. This four piece local rock band took the stage with a number called “Stretch Out Your Life.” My initial, cynical, judgmental impression was that the lead musician was full of himself. By the time they were half way through their second song I had already completely changed my mind, thus the reason for criticizing my own impulsive notion. The quick double handed finger brush through his hair may have caused my preliminary reaction but I’m not giving myself any excuses. The fact is Keeton was a nice guy. Who cares what I have to say about it anyway.

They did a cover of “Interstate Love Song” by Stone Temple Pilots and I noticed that he had a nice voice so I started to pay closer attention. Carefully listening to make out the words to their original songs I began to wonder if they were a Christian band as well. After all, if I have it right, a few lyrics to the song “Blue Room” are as follows: his light is waiting to bring life to your heart/ destiny waits for you/ you gotta choose to fly or wait in this blue room to die. The song that I decided was my favorite came toward the end of their set and was called “Awakening.” In addition to the track title alone, again this song contained several spiritual connotations: in your love I have found the makings of a happy end/ your love is my life/ your bread your wine/ I cannot live without it.

Lindsey and I spoke with Keeton after the show because I am the annoying fan who wants a piece of merchandise after the display has been securely packed away. He confirmed that he had been part of a Christian band prior to the birth of The 71’s.

Throughout this site you will occasionally find me interrupting my musical commentary to make remarks on a band’s attire, or that of an individual member within the band. This happens to be one of those occasions because the lead guitarist, who they referred to as Cecil, was wearing an appealing combination. He had on a black button up, sleeves rolled to the elbow, layered with a grey vest and a bright red tie tucked into the vest. Lindsey noticed as well and stated her approval accordingly. Let me quickly recognize the other two members of the group before moving on. Jacob was the bass player and “Tank” was the drummer. The two are brothers and the group calls them the ‘Sons of Trouble.’

1. Stretch Out Your Life
2. Count
3. Interstate Love Song (STP cover)
4. Blue Room
5. Tomorrow Belongs to You
6. Awakening
7. Louder

I was trying to predict what song Thriving Ivory was going to start with. I went over different possibilities in my head and talked them through with Lindsey. Maybe they would start with their second single, “Hey Lady” so that they could save the VH1 hit for the encore. Maybe they would play a cover for the encore and include both publically exposed songs within the set. I was totally wrong. They started with “For Heaven’s Sake” which is the ninth track to their self-titled album. It’s a beautiful song about not allowing yourself to breakdown when things aren’t looking up for you. To avoid dwelling on what isn’t fair and to let it go so that you can move on.

Clayton Stroope has a very distinctive voice. I might describe it as a pinched, high-ranged, Geddy Lee-ish whine but without the earsplitting shrieks. It’s wonderful. For some it may take getting used to. And while you’re deciding weather to like his voice or not, listen to the amazing lyrics. Next they sang “Twilight.” “Twilight” was my first favorite. In other words, when I started listening to the album this was the first song that I fell in love with. Since then I have had other favorites and have pretty much fallen in love with the whole album. I can’t stop playing it. Today I took the CD from my car into my office to listen at work.

Scott Jason is remarkable on the keyboards and the intro to “Hey Lady” found me concentrated on his rapid but graceful presentation. With the conclusion of “Hey Lady” Clayton encouraged everyone to go out for ‘high fives and hugs’ seeing as he didn’t have anything to do after the show. Following this invitation they played a song that is not featured on their album called “Father’s For A Ghost.” They followed that up with the final track to their debut entitled “Day of Rain.” Drew stepped out to showcase some of his guitar playing and Clayton dialed back to give him the floor.

I guess I’ll insert my little wardrobe observation here. Drew was dressed very European. He had on layered shirts and a scarf and kind of reminded me of the way the UK band the Kooks would dress. Scott and Bret, the base player, stood next to each other both wearing beanies.

The beanie brothers and their other half rocked out a short rendition of “Let It Be” and I gasped as I turned to wait for Lindsey’s response. They, of course, ended with “Angels On The Moon” of which my favorite line says, ‘do you know, that everyday is the first of the rest of your life.’ I was sure they would do an encore and it looked like they were deliberating until Pink Floyd’s “Us And Them” played them off the stage. Weird. I guess the house crew wanted to split, after all it was a Monday night. I would have liked to hear the ballad, “Overrated,” but luckily I realized that shouting ‘overrated’ would yield a wrong impression.

1. For Heaven’s Sake
2. Twilight
3. Secret Life
4. Alien
5. Long Hallway With A Broken Light
6. Hey Lady
7. Light Up Mississippi
8. Father’s For A Ghost
9. Day Of Rain
10. Let It Be (Beatles cover)
11. Angel’s On The Moon

Here is a live version of “For Heaven’s Sake.”

If Clayton looks familiar to you it may be because you have seen him as the subject of Lee Ann Womack’s “Last Call” video.

Toyota Center- Houston, Texas- Tuesday, November 18, 2008

According to The Daily Cougar (The Official University Newspaper of the University of Houston) journalist, Cassandra Malork, “A Coldplay concert is always a memorable one because excellence is expected.” Last night was my first live Coldplay experience but it is safe to say that I can agree with Ms. Malork. Concerts and festivals attract thousands of fans so it is imperative that strict safety and security protocols are implemented. For this, the organizers are advised to hire professional Phoenix Fire Watch Guards.

After Aimee, my partner in crime, and I purchased our tour T of choice (In Aimee’s case, a sweatshirt that said ‘COLDPLAY’ across the ass) we climbed to the ‘cheap seat’ section. Nose bleeds or a lawn seat is all the money I ever throw down. In all honesty the seats were pretty good. We sat directly to the side of the stage which was cool as the show opened because we saw the band jamming to “Life In Technicolor” before they lifted the curtain for the crowd to react. Chris Martin was, of course, wearing the new distinctive tour jacket, the one specifically made for the ‘2008 Viva La Vida Tour,’ also the one we saw him in on the cover of SPIN magazine when the album came out.

Starting with an extended instrumental is awesome as it is and the fact that “Life In Technicolor” is the first song on the new album made it even more dramatic. It’s like you just popped in the CD, but no you are listening live!! Ok sorry, I’ll get on with it. The segue into “Violet Hill” was not surprisingly followed by a burst of applause as the rest of the crowd was exposed to what we saw behind the curtain. Next was “Clocks” which had the lights down for every piano segment. The green lasers were funny. You’re not really affected the same way by the lighting when you’re above the lights. I knew we would miss some of the visuals anyway considering we were to the side and couldn’t see what was behind the band. There was, however, several suspended screens and excellent live filming going on which I hope will be released on some kind of DVD. Aimee kept filming the film (lol…sounds redundant) with her camera so I will post live videos once I steal them from her.

“Speed of Sound” played through entirely with the lights down. At this point it was time for some kind of acknowledgement to the crown so Martin said, “Let’s turn some lights on here man, can’t come to Houston, Texas without turning on the lights and sayin’ thank you for having us.” “Speed of Sound” was followed by several Viva songs, including one of my favorites, “42.” Viva is different than the rest. Less lyrics and more sound. They use strings and percussion. It’s really beautiful. A Rush of Blood to the Head has always been my favorite but Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends may be sneaking up to the number one slot in my mind.

If you listen to the lyrics on Viva you hear the usual life, love, and politics in the familiar Coldplay sound, however, in this album, as the title suggests, there is also death. It’s sad. The song “42” says, ‘Those who are dead are not dead/ They’re just living in my head.’ Just the name of the second track, “Cemetaries Of London,” alludes to death. They also get religious with this forth album. “Viva La Vida,” says, ‘I know St. Peter won’t call my name.’ We were supposed to hear less self-consumed stories in this album but I think “Viva La Vida” is completely personal. I gather that he is reflecting on quick fame and the fact that once it’s there it’s there forever. He will always be famous and now he wants to search beyond fame to see what is next for him. What happens after life and after the love that he has been lucky to secure? He is unsure of what will come or if he is on the path to where he thinks he wants to be when the next thing comes. He does all this via biblical references, which gives it a kind of double meaning. Those who take the time to meditate on the lyrics will find the personal message because it lives under the simple lyrics. Let’s hear your thoughts?

On “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face” I noticed that Jonny’s guitar had the black and red V[I]VA logo painted on it. Next, Martin started a solo of “The Hardest Part” and then looked in the crowd and found a young kid and said to him/her, “Well, how old are you? About four?” He then mentioned something about appreciating the diversity of the crowd which, if you have read the Houston Chronicle aftermath of the concert, writer Brandon Hernsberger makes a good point regarding this comment. He says that Martin misinterprets age difference as diversity and that the crowd last night was the least diverse he has seen. I said it was a good observation, I didn’t say I gave a shit. I couldn’t care less if the crowd is diverse. Plus the next comment Hernsberger makes is ridiculous and I don’t agree with it at all. He says, “Coldplay appeals only to a certain group of people – those who are privileged enough to not have to make personal connections to art to help them define their position in the world…” Why would Coldplay only apply to those people? Don’t bother to read the article if you haven’t already. It would make any star struck person who, after last night, is momentarily in love with Chris Martin and jealous of Gwenith a little bit defensive and mad at Mr. Hernsberger.

On “Viva La Vida” we all joined in to the Whoa Oooh Ooooh Oooh Ooooh…of course. Then the music cut so that Martin could sing the Whoaaa with a purposely bad vocal so that we could all laugh at him and love him even more because now we think that he is also funny. Then he proceeded to lay on the stage to bask in his fame for a minute because he still enjoys that even though we know now that he is, you know, searching for what comes next.

They climbed half way up the arena to met the guitars that were there waiting for them and sang “The Scientist.” Martin mentioned that we were the strongest bunch of tacklers that they have had as they do the climb every show. And that it posed a problem because he and his band mates aren’t the strongest of guys. Then he had to mention something about good looks compensating for the lack of strength. It was just one of those friendly banters that you know he says to every crowd. Martin played the harmonica. Then they did “Death Will Never Conquer” and Will, the drummer, sang.

A techno mixed version of “Viva La Vida” played while they made their way back to the main stage to play “Politik.” When the encore came they did the predicted “Yellow” and left the stage with a simple “Bye!” from Martin. Lastly, when track ten on Viva doesn’t end and if you wait a minute you find that it starts up again just like “Reign of Love” and “Chinese Sleep Chant;” that song is called “The Escapist.” That song was played for the exitlude. All in all, it was a great show. An experience I will one day tell my children about. Stay tuned for Aimee’s live footage…

Setlist:

1. Life In Technicolor
2. Violet Hill
3. Clocks
4. In My Place
5. Speed Of Sound
6. Cemeteries Of London
7. Chinese Sleep Chant
8. 42
9. Fix You
10. Strawberry Swing
11. God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
12. Talk
13. The Hardest Part
14. Postcards From Far Away (piano)
15. Viva La Vida
16. Lost!
17. The Scientist
18. Death Will Never Conquer
19. Viva La Vida
20. Politik
21. Lovers In Japan
22. Death And All His Friends

Encore:

23. Yellow
24. The Escapist

And now I will leave you with the latest video “Lovers in Japan.” By the way, the old school TV looking contraption that magnifies Martin’s hands as he plays the piano in this video, they brought that on-stage with them. And yes, the confetti did fall during this song at the show! Too bad I wasn’t anywhere near the line of fire. I wanted a piece of Coldplay-confetti for my scrapbook! Okay, I sound obsessed. I guess I won’t deny it.

Lovers In Japan @ Yahoo! Video