Shifting Shows

My first regular concert was Chris Tomlin in the early 2000's. While I've been seeing a lot of live shows in the past few years, concerts have remained more rare for me. It's seemed easier to go see a play or opera than a concert--the ticket-buying is often easier and the general experience seems to work better with solo attendance, which is usually what I've been doing. 

Now that live shows have started up again, after the break I'm readjusting what sort of shows I go see. The time for solo attendance may be coming to a close. The C.S. Lewis play was a great reentry in. Quickly following that was an invite to see Jeremy Camp. Whether or not I've been much of a concert-goer, that was a pretty easy yes. Jeremy Camp has long been one of the top Christian artists. And do you know what? Attending this concert with a group may very well have been a better use of $30 than attending an opera solo.

Maybe concerts don't give me as much blogging content as another type of show might. Instead, though, I felt included and comfortable in my being and part of the audience. Instead of just looking at something aesthetically, I was looking philosophically. I was glad to be part of this space in which people were gathering to give God the glory. (Not to say that I suddenly have anything against enjoying aesthetics or plays or operas--I'm just describing how the experience was different.)

Lots of things have been shifting for me lately. And if the type of shows I go see ends up shifting, too, well, that may be a good thing.

The Return of Lucia Micarelli

The first time I saw Lucia Micarelli was when she toured with Josh Groban on his Awake tour a while back. That was one of those times where you could say she blew my mind with her violin playing. She also introduced me to a new approach to music and helped launch my interest in music in general: I hadn't been listening to music much on my own before that. That was the time that I started browsing iTunes and Pandora to seek new things.

So when I had the opportunity to go see her again this past weekend, well, I had to go and see what it would be like to go and see her again years later.

She was playing at the Highlands Church in north Scottsdale. A good-looking, big church where it seems they have many such shows. Given the style of Lucia's music, I was a little surprised to see that I was practically the only person there who wasn't retired. (Not entirely unlike in fact going to church, then, eh?) But I hadn't been paying attention to the fact that this show was just one night of Arizona Musicfest. People were going for Musicfest, not for Lucia specifically. So then knowing that I might have been the only person there who had seen her play before made me excited to see how she would soon blow their minds, too.

She has certainly been working at her craft over the years. Now she incorporates more straight classical music, the intense pieces but also the delicate pieces. And the fiddle tunes highlight her liveliness. She also does some singing now. Her voice is exactly as it would be: rich and full and from the soul. I want to say that she has something of a jazz sound to the way that she sings.

It is possible that she drew some tears from me. Maybe it's just me; all the shows I watch nowadays end up having these moments of being beyond amazing. No, no, Lucia's music is that good.

And then it came, the same duo of songs that she played at Josh's concert years ago. "Aurora" and "Kashmir." Her intense violin playing running into rock violin playing. You could feel the audience reacting in pleasure and awe. Lucia isn't the only one nowadays to blend genres . . . but she does it better than any other violinist I've seen or heard. Her intensely emotional style is unlike any other.

"We've Been Searching Our Whole Lives"

Guess who I got to see last night--Blondfire (aka. "my indie band of choice" for a few years).

It was so strange: I only found out they were playing here at about 3:30 yesterday (the show was at eight) and they were playing ridiculously close to where I live (and I mean ridiculously). There were three bands playing, and Blondfire was right in the middle slot.

Although I knew that the brother-sister duo had been playing live with one or two other people, I was surprised not to see Bruce--he wasn't there and I just didn't see/recognize him, right? No, I think not. It would have completed it better to have both him and Erica, but I've been waiting long enough for Blondfire to come to Arizona that I'm not complaining.

They opened with "Walking With Giants" and went on to play the other three songs from their new EP and a few from the upcoming album, Young Hearts, including the title track and a song titled "Kites." Erica's microphone could have been a little louder in comparison with the other sounds (it was loud--my eardrums took a while to get back to normal after leaving the venue), but I was still beyond thrilled. Blondfire also only played for half hour--if they had had more time, I would have loved to hear some of their older songs. But once again, it was wonderful to hear this music live after waiting so long.

After they played, I got Erica to sign my copy of their first full length album, My Someday. This album came out four and a half, almost five years ago, so I think it was a testament to my love of Blondfire that I even own the physical CD.

Oh, yes, and the quote in this post's title is from "Hide and Seek," which is a song I've really been enjoying.