Rearranging my life so that I could see both Andrew and Ben this week was totally worth it. Both shows were very good. As much as I would love to see a show at Carnegie Hall, I am glad I got to see Andrew in the more intimate setting of MHOW. He played an awesome set of mostly new stuff, which was fine by me since I am not that familiar with his old stuff. I just like the way his music sounds. He is one of the few artists that I could see live repeatedly without feeling compelled to buy his CDs.
He does a lot of cool stuff with looping and pedals and such, and I always enjoy seeing that kind of thing live. I heard one of his songs on the radio the day after the show and the recording did not resonate with me much at all. It was pleasant enough, but I couldn't get lost in the music as I can when hearing it live. The crowd at the show was very collegiate and obnoxious and did lots of random shouting out, so that was sort of annoying, but Andrew was a good sport about it all.
The best was the girl who randomly yelled "Oh no!" (which actually is the name of one of his songs). One of the guys in the band had just picked up a clarinet, so Andrew was like: "Oh no! A clarinet! [pause] Don't worry . . . it's gonna be alright" {insert sheepish grin}. Precious.
In contrast, the crowd at Ben's show was quite respectful, which is very rare. People actually listened to Ben's set rather than chatting away all night, and no one yelled out "Fire and Rain." They were even perfectly quiet for his solo songs and the poem he reads at the end of the show. I can't even remember the last time that happened -- probably in England.
I wasn't thrilled with Ben's set list, but he was on his game (and acting normally, or what passes as normal for him) and the crowd was great, so it was actually one of the better Ben shows that I've been to. Also, David Saw and his purple hat are apparently no longer having visa issues and have been allowed back into the country, so that was good. David actually got to sing two of his own songs, but Ben has firmly stolen "Boyfriend" for himself, which is a shame because David's delivery of his own song is so much better.
Ben totally recognized me and gave me a hug when I went to say Hi after the show -- it was a great night! I am so glad I was able to work it all out; it would have killed me to have to miss Ben.
