somewhere between ft. wayne and grand rapids, i seriously started questioning my sanity for making this trip, what a freakin' haul! but in the end, it turned out to be worth every single second of the long and frustrating time on the road. the venue, the "frederik meijer sculpture gardens & amphitheatre" was amazing, just amazing, the only negative was there just wasn't enough time there. it's nice to see american commerce generate and support such a beautiful public space. and it turned out to be a beautiful, comfortable night with just a few small drops of rain (quite a nice break from the 100-102 weather here) and a nice cool breeze.
while the music is what draws everyone in, the meeting of friends has become an overall and very important part of these concerts. this is truly a communal experience with people coming in from many places gathering and sharing good times and conversations. some old friends, some meeting for the first time. as always, it was great to spend time with sue, kent and alan and to meet and talk to molly, betsy & myron and carrie and brookd.
dar williams opened w/a very nice solo acoustic set, a little under an hour, hit several of my favorites (from "beauty of the rain") and was in great voice and very funny.
OtR did a great hour-fifteen/twenty minute pretty traditional set (it was a co-headline w/a curfew). karin was in top vocal form and all were having a great time. linford looked spiffy in a suit and barefoot, karin explained that he forgot his boots in the hotel and just decided to forgo his shoes in general. the crowd was a nice mix of fans of both acts and subscribers/patrons not familiar with either. but they were polite, quiet and responsive to both dar & OtR, a pleasant surprise for these types of subscriber type shows/venues. there were singles, couples and quite a few famalies with young well behaved kids in attendance, karin and linford both especially seemed to enjoy two little girls (prob 4 or 5 years old) that danced ballet in front of the stage on a few songs, looking down from the stage and smiling at them several times.
the show was prob one of the more all around professionally managed that i have seen in a long time, excellent sound system, worked & tweaked to the max by juicy. mickey and jake were up on risers that added some nice dimension to the stage set and the lighting was really nice (a little tricky for pics when mixed w/the daylight). these guys run a pretty spiffy place. more pics are HERE and the setlist was:
*"trouble" replaced "hush now" as the final song and "i'm on a roll" wasn't played.
yep, a great night...
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