Carrie Still Loves Concerts
2022.10.10
Song of the day:
Carrie Still Loves Concerts
A number of years ago I started a Tumblr blog called Carrie Loves Concerts and chronicled the various concerts I attended. I stopped in September of 2019, never posting about the last two concerts I went to in November that year for a number of reasons (pulled my hamstring, holidays, pandemic, etc.). I wrote earlier this year about the first concert I attended since 2019 (BTS) and maybe even posted something about seeing Coldplay a month later, but I didn’t do an actual review for that one. Anyway, all that to say, I guess I’m now using this blog to write about my concert experiences instead of doing that somewhere else. So without further ado…here are my reviews of the two concerts I saw this weekend…first time I’ve done back to back shows in years. It’s not as easy as it used to be, and I’m glad I took today off to recover.
The Artist: Matt Nathanson w/Donovan Woods
The Venue: Palace of the Fine Arts Theatre / San Francisco
The Date: Friday, October 7, 2022
The Tour: Celebrating 15 Years of Some Mad Hope + The New Album, Boston Accent
For those who’ve read any of my posts in this blog, and those that read prior blogs, and those that follow me on social media, and certainly those who know me in real life, you know that Matt Nathanson is one of my all-time favorite artists. It had been more than three years since I’d seen him live (hello, pandemic), and to say it was a perfect night would be an understatement.
To start with, my friend Diane had an extra ticket to the pre-show party (Q & A, acoustic songs, laughter) and asked if I’d like to join her. Um, yes please. I wasn’t meeting my other friend until showtime so I headed to SF early and got ready for the fun. And as usual, Matt did not disappoint. He answered a ton of questions about everything from his favorite cheeseburger to the weight of strings on his guitar, and seemed to truly enjoy the connection with his fans. He also played 5 or 6 songs acoustically and they were glorious. To hear Sky High Honey, one of my all time favorites, with just him and his guitar was magic. And then to hear the live cover of Wild Horses (U2), I mean…it was literal perfection. Honestly, if that was all the night was it would have been enough. But oh no, there was more. So much more.
My friend Travis arrived about 2 minutes before Donovan Woods kicked off the show, and we agree that he was fantastic! I’d heard of him only from Matt’s posts but had not listened to any of his music. I now need to buy everything he’s every put out because he is GOOD. And also hilarious. His voice is beautiful, and his songs are pure singer songwriter with extremely good guitar skills as accompaniment. If you like acoustic guitar, rich lyrics, and just general goodness, I highly encourage you to check out his music.
Shortly after Donovan’s set, Matt and his band took the stage, showing off an extremely cool set inspired by his newest album, Boston Accent. And then the show began. And it was glorious. He played several songs from the new album, some old favorites, and then began the (mostly) start to finish playing of Some Mad Hope. It was super interesting to hear him talk about the album, how hard it was to get excited to play every song every night, and what he was going through personally at the time. It made the songs even more real, and I still love all of them. He saved his biggest hit, Come on Get Higher for the end, instead of playing it in order, but that was fine. It’s actually not my favorite on the album, but it’s still a great song.
He talked about his initial hatred of musicals and how his daughter sucked him into Hamilton and now he’s all in. I think y’all know how much this pleased me. He joked with his bandmates, made us all laugh, and sounded absolutely amazing as he sang so many of his songs. He even pulled out a cover of Billy Joel’s Only the Good Die Young, which was ridiculously good. Some of the songs he played I hadn’t heard live in many years, and it was great to hear the new songs live. I could have listened for several more hours. I’m sure every other person in the sold-out venue felt the same. His energy is contagious, and he seems to genuinely love what he does for a living, even when it’s hard.
To close out the night Matt played his sing-along song Suspended from the front of the stage, and it was, as it always is, perfect.
All in all, it was a great night with great friends, and it reminded me why I love live music. There’s truly nothing like it in the world.
The Artist: Elton John
The Venue: Levi’s Stadium / Santa Clara
The Date: Saturday, October 8, 2022
The Tour: Farewell Yellow Brick Road
For night two of concerting, I joined my friend Kirsten to see Elton John on what I think really is his last-ever tour. I mean he said that when I saw him over three years ago on the same farewell tour but you know, the pandemic…Anyway, this was Kirsten’s first time seeing him, and it was super fun to get caught up in her excitement. It’s how, I’m sure, I felt when I first saw him back in 1990-something.
There was no opening act - thank you for that, Elton! - and he started pretty close to on time to a pretty full stadium of people dressed in sequins, feathers, boas and shiny glasses. And he was, unsurprisingly, fantastic! He has about 8 thousand hit songs so he couldn’t play all of them, but he got a lot in - including my favorite, Levon - while having fun being sassy with the crowd. He stood up from the piano after almost every song and egged on the fans for more applause, smiling the whole time. Literally, “feeling like a little kid.”
His voice was in great shape, and he was definitely having fun on stage. I am always happy when camera operators zero on in keyboard players, especially when that person is also the star of the show. I think sometimes we forget that Elton is an amazing pianist on top of being one of the best songwriters of all time, and a great singer. He sounded great. And I hope he keeps making music even if he doesn’t tour around the world to play it for us live. I honestly doubt he could stop himself.
I’d forgotten that he played video clips through most of the songs, many of which were made for the tour but others were clips and images from his life, from other concerts, movies, TV shows, and a lot from the Rocketman movie which came out in 2019. I know those weren’t there when I saw the show in 2019 because the movie hadn’t come out yet. It was an exceptional way to chronicle his multi-decade career. And what a career he’s had. His catalog is amazing, but what he’s done off-stage is equally awesome, especially his work with the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
I’m so thankful for all the times I got to see Elton live. Each show holds its own memories, and this one is no different. I’ll never forget how lucky I’ve been to experience so much of his music in person or the friends with whom I got to share those moments.
Video of the day: