Had to decide between the SC/ND game and the Imogen Heap concert, and going on the theory that it’s better to be out doing something than at home watching something, we opted for the latter. Give how both turned out, I think we made the right decision.
Imogen was exceptional. Fantastic voice, talented pianist, great songwriter. These things were fairly evident before we bought tickets. Her opening acts were, however, a mystery. They turned out to be awesome. Kid Beyond is some sort of beat box prodigy. What he does can be explained, (he makes beats with his mouth, layers live loops of those beats, and basically performs extremely full and textured sounding songs using nothing but his voice) but it can’t be appreciated until you’ve seen it. This video pretty much gives you the idea. Better still, Imogen brought both of her opening acts out multiple times during her own show, so she sang several songs over Kid Beyond’s beats, which was slick.
On her own Imogen was equally impressive with one of those voices you assume can’t sound as good live as it does on the album. Sadly for vocalist hopefuls everywhere who console themselves with assurances that her sound is all studio, she’s better in person. She also commands a stage and rolls a pretty mean Mohawk. Some people have all the luck.
The other noteworthy part of the show was the ridiculously wasted woman in front of Amy who was in the fight of her life just to remain vertical. She literally wobbled like a bowling pin for a solid fifteen minutes before finally giving up and making her friends, who’d conveniently been pretending she was fine, take her home. When I say her friends, I mean her daughter’s friends, because the best I could piece it together, she was someone’s mom. I’m sure we all remember when our own mom’s took us to a show and threatened to pass out in the crowd. Inevitable really. Her departure received applause all it’s own.
So, yeah, I missed the unique pleasure that is seeing the Irish get blown up in prime time, but that’s what ESPN is for. Soon as they start having live musical guests I can stop leaving the house.
February 11, 2007 at 11:33 pm
This obviously is very late, but just wanted to post that I have my first Imogen Heap song (Hide and Seek), and definitely would have gotten more had more been available on the site I received 90 free downloads from (eMusic). So given the relative obscurity of 95% of the available material, I made sure the 90 songs (as opposed to the advertised 250)would fill up my 1GB ipod that desperately needed content renewal, and so opted for lengthy “free jazz” pieces by previously unheard of “Cuong Vu” and “Spring Heel Jack.” Haven’t quite had the opportunity to listen to it all yet… and odds are certainly against me that I will like 100% (or even 50%) of these experiments. I had a little room at the end and fit something called “via satellite” that I received from someone over a year ago (I assume it was you?). Obviously, my getting around to your music recommendations is about as quick as my getting around to your book recommendations.
Also, email me some movie recommendations as I’m in immediate need of those with my latest Blockbuster free trial. Though I must say the $10/month Total Access plan is a very easy program to get your money’s worth. If only I wanted to see this many movies. But seriously, I’m getting dangerously close to the section of my queue reserved for romantic comedies I really don’t want to see so get those to me pronto.