![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I had a ticket to see Band From TV in Madison last November, but the venue canceled the show the day before for no reason that I ever heard. I finally got to see them last night in Chicago. And as an added bonus, they brought Hugh Laurie with them this time. He hadn't been scheduled for the Madison show.
They've been everywhere this weekend. I passed on the Navy Pier and Grant Park shows in favor of the Vic, because the other shows had seating (or standing) on pretty much the same level as the band, and I'm only 5'3". There's no way I'd be able to see over or around everybody else.
The Vic is a nice venue, even if it could use some TLC in the form of a power washing and a fresh coat of paint on everything. I opted for balcony tickets because the main floor tickets were either VIP expensive or standing room only (I'm both a happy miser and too short to see over people). The balcony tickets were general admission, so I wanted to get there early enough to get the seat I wanted. I had also hoped to get there early enough for dinner (there are a lot of good restaurants in that neighborhood), but when I arrived 2 hours before the show was due to start, there was already a line at the door so I grabbed a beverage from the Walgreens across the street and went to get in line. That's when I completely randomly ran into![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
asyouleft, loves_bitch, and a friend of theirs I hadn't met before, who were all in line about 3 people ahead of me. That made the hour and 40 minutes we were standing there go by a lot faster. They all had floor tickets, so I didn't see any of them again until after the show when I ran into asyouleft again as we went to get our cars (she was parked a couple of spaces down from me).
I did indeed manage to snag the seat I wanted--front row balcony directly in front of Jesse Spencer's microphone. The cool thing about the Vic is that it's a small venue and the balcony is set pretty far forward, so instead of looking at little teeny people-shaped dots in the far distance, you're sitting close enough to see the expressions on people's faces. Heck, I could even see the shredded bits hanging off Jesse's bow as the show went on. The steps down into the balcony area are fairly narrow and steep, and the older guy who was the usher for the balcony complimented me twice for using the handrail.
The opening act was a local cover band called South of 80 (referring to the I80 expressway). The keyboardist's brother was the president of the Epilepsy Foundation, which was one of the charities benefiting from the concert. They were so good that I forgave them for being Southsiders (south of 80 nothing, I feel like I need a passport if I go south of the Eisenhower). Their musical taste is very similar to mine. The only song I couldn't sing along with was the one country song they played.
With all their other commitments, Band From TV hadn't had time to do a sound check earlier, so random band members kept popping out during set-up between shows. Hugh Laurie came out briefly (to much female shrieking) and poked at his keyboard for a minute before disappearing again. Greg Grunberg came out (to considerably less female shrieking) to bang on his drums for a minute. Then Jesse Spencer came out with his violin (to about as much shrieking as Hugh) and stayed out for quite a while, playing snippets from several of the songs. At one point he leaned over the stage to hug and kiss a couple of people, and a line immediately formed. He went back up to the mic and said, "No, no, no. They're friends...What?...You want to be my friend?," and laughed. He's not shy with fans at all.
The concert wasn't my type of music at all (I liked South of 80 better), but it was fun to watch the guys up on stage. Adrian Pasdar has suffered a major fashion backslide now that he doesn't hang out with his Heroes co-star and BFF Milo Ventimiglia every day. I guess he wasn't kidding about Milo dressing him. He's an attractive man, but he dresses like a hobo when left to his own devices.
Hugh Laurie didn't stay out on stage the whole time like everyone else. He only came out for his songs, then disappeared backstage again. There was one song that only had a tiny little keyboard part at the very beginning and Jesse sat down to play it.
Scott Grimes played keyboard for a bit too. When he first came out, he said, "A lot of people would pay good money to sit in this seat after Hugh Laurie...I paid three thousand dollars!" Jesse laughed, and Scott looked at him and said, "You're cuter in real life."
They have an Irish song in their set that's pretty new for them, but they had a great time with it. Jesse killed the fiddle part and even said how much fun that song is to play. When they finished up (it was easily their best song of the night), Adrian piped up, "That did not suck," followed by Jesse's, "Put that one on YouTube!" (ETA: Someone did put that one on YouTube! See below.) The rest of the band paused to praise Jesse's fiddle-playing, and Adrian put the capper on it by playing the opening to "Jessie's Girl" on his guitar.
Jesse Spencer had way more energy than anybody had a right to after the number of shows they've played and how busy they've been this weekend. He covered every inch of that stage and hopped around like a little Mexican jumping bean the whole night.
Their first encore song was "Baba O'Riley" (the only song they play that I like the original version of). Jesse has a major part at the end, so I was very surprised when he left the stage. About halfway through the song, I saw something out of the corner of my eye, and it was Jesse coming out into the box seat area just to my left on my level. He climbed onto a chair and braced one foot on the balcony railing in the dark. When his part came up, the rest of the band pointed, the Vic crew nailed him with a spotlight, and he did his violin solo maybe 20 feet in front of me. That was very cool.
Their last song of the night (at least I think it was their last song), required some banter to set up, with Greg saying there was something wrong with Hugh's "piany," and Hugh saying there wasn't and he would prove it. About 2 seconds into the song, Hugh's keyboard cut out, and the band cracked up because that wasn't supposed to happen. The crew came out and fiddled with it for a couple of minutes, and the band went into take 2 of the song's intro. This time, Hugh made it about 3 seconds into the song before his keyboard died and the rest of the band killed themselves laughing. Hugh eventually decided to use the other keyboard on the other side of the stage and they made it through the song on the 3rd try.
All in all, it was a fun show. Like I said, not my kind of music, but then I wasn't there for the music. I was there to stare at Jesse Spencer until his image was permanently burned onto my retinas. The band also looked like they were having fun, which was in itself fun to watch. It was also cool to see the show at the Vic.
I'm originally from Chicago and there are times when I really miss living in the city, but when I'm stuck in a traffic jam in Wrigleyville at 12:30 in the morning is not one of them. I didn't get home until almost 1:30. I had a great time though.
They've been everywhere this weekend. I passed on the Navy Pier and Grant Park shows in favor of the Vic, because the other shows had seating (or standing) on pretty much the same level as the band, and I'm only 5'3". There's no way I'd be able to see over or around everybody else.
The Vic is a nice venue, even if it could use some TLC in the form of a power washing and a fresh coat of paint on everything. I opted for balcony tickets because the main floor tickets were either VIP expensive or standing room only (I'm both a happy miser and too short to see over people). The balcony tickets were general admission, so I wanted to get there early enough to get the seat I wanted. I had also hoped to get there early enough for dinner (there are a lot of good restaurants in that neighborhood), but when I arrived 2 hours before the show was due to start, there was already a line at the door so I grabbed a beverage from the Walgreens across the street and went to get in line. That's when I completely randomly ran into
asyouleft, loves_bitch, and a friend of theirs I hadn't met before, who were all in line about 3 people ahead of me. That made the hour and 40 minutes we were standing there go by a lot faster. They all had floor tickets, so I didn't see any of them again until after the show when I ran into asyouleft again as we went to get our cars (she was parked a couple of spaces down from me).I did indeed manage to snag the seat I wanted--front row balcony directly in front of Jesse Spencer's microphone. The cool thing about the Vic is that it's a small venue and the balcony is set pretty far forward, so instead of looking at little teeny people-shaped dots in the far distance, you're sitting close enough to see the expressions on people's faces. Heck, I could even see the shredded bits hanging off Jesse's bow as the show went on. The steps down into the balcony area are fairly narrow and steep, and the older guy who was the usher for the balcony complimented me twice for using the handrail.
The opening act was a local cover band called South of 80 (referring to the I80 expressway). The keyboardist's brother was the president of the Epilepsy Foundation, which was one of the charities benefiting from the concert. They were so good that I forgave them for being Southsiders (south of 80 nothing, I feel like I need a passport if I go south of the Eisenhower). Their musical taste is very similar to mine. The only song I couldn't sing along with was the one country song they played.
With all their other commitments, Band From TV hadn't had time to do a sound check earlier, so random band members kept popping out during set-up between shows. Hugh Laurie came out briefly (to much female shrieking) and poked at his keyboard for a minute before disappearing again. Greg Grunberg came out (to considerably less female shrieking) to bang on his drums for a minute. Then Jesse Spencer came out with his violin (to about as much shrieking as Hugh) and stayed out for quite a while, playing snippets from several of the songs. At one point he leaned over the stage to hug and kiss a couple of people, and a line immediately formed. He went back up to the mic and said, "No, no, no. They're friends...What?...You want to be my friend?," and laughed. He's not shy with fans at all.
The concert wasn't my type of music at all (I liked South of 80 better), but it was fun to watch the guys up on stage. Adrian Pasdar has suffered a major fashion backslide now that he doesn't hang out with his Heroes co-star and BFF Milo Ventimiglia every day. I guess he wasn't kidding about Milo dressing him. He's an attractive man, but he dresses like a hobo when left to his own devices.
Hugh Laurie didn't stay out on stage the whole time like everyone else. He only came out for his songs, then disappeared backstage again. There was one song that only had a tiny little keyboard part at the very beginning and Jesse sat down to play it.
Scott Grimes played keyboard for a bit too. When he first came out, he said, "A lot of people would pay good money to sit in this seat after Hugh Laurie...I paid three thousand dollars!" Jesse laughed, and Scott looked at him and said, "You're cuter in real life."
They have an Irish song in their set that's pretty new for them, but they had a great time with it. Jesse killed the fiddle part and even said how much fun that song is to play. When they finished up (it was easily their best song of the night), Adrian piped up, "That did not suck," followed by Jesse's, "Put that one on YouTube!" (ETA: Someone did put that one on YouTube! See below.) The rest of the band paused to praise Jesse's fiddle-playing, and Adrian put the capper on it by playing the opening to "Jessie's Girl" on his guitar.
Jesse Spencer had way more energy than anybody had a right to after the number of shows they've played and how busy they've been this weekend. He covered every inch of that stage and hopped around like a little Mexican jumping bean the whole night.
Their first encore song was "Baba O'Riley" (the only song they play that I like the original version of). Jesse has a major part at the end, so I was very surprised when he left the stage. About halfway through the song, I saw something out of the corner of my eye, and it was Jesse coming out into the box seat area just to my left on my level. He climbed onto a chair and braced one foot on the balcony railing in the dark. When his part came up, the rest of the band pointed, the Vic crew nailed him with a spotlight, and he did his violin solo maybe 20 feet in front of me. That was very cool.
Their last song of the night (at least I think it was their last song), required some banter to set up, with Greg saying there was something wrong with Hugh's "piany," and Hugh saying there wasn't and he would prove it. About 2 seconds into the song, Hugh's keyboard cut out, and the band cracked up because that wasn't supposed to happen. The crew came out and fiddled with it for a couple of minutes, and the band went into take 2 of the song's intro. This time, Hugh made it about 3 seconds into the song before his keyboard died and the rest of the band killed themselves laughing. Hugh eventually decided to use the other keyboard on the other side of the stage and they made it through the song on the 3rd try.
All in all, it was a fun show. Like I said, not my kind of music, but then I wasn't there for the music. I was there to stare at Jesse Spencer until his image was permanently burned onto my retinas. The band also looked like they were having fun, which was in itself fun to watch. It was also cool to see the show at the Vic.
I'm originally from Chicago and there are times when I really miss living in the city, but when I'm stuck in a traffic jam in Wrigleyville at 12:30 in the morning is not one of them. I didn't get home until almost 1:30. I had a great time though.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 09:19 pm (UTC)From:Adrian Pasdar has suffered a major fashion backslide now that he doesn't hang out with his Heroes co-star and BFF Milo Ventimiglia every day. I guess he wasn't kidding about Milo dressing him. He's an attractive man, but he dresses like a hobo when left to his own devices.
TOTALLY. The first thing I said to Kelly (the girl with us, Kelly she's Erin's cousin!) was "When did Adrian become a beach bum?" Because really.
Jesse Spencer had way more energy than anybody had a right to after the number of shows they've played and how busy they've been this weekend. He covered every inch of that stage and hopped around like a little Mexican jumping bean the whole night.
Agreed! He was so adorable with his violin.
Had so much fun last night, glad to see you!
no subject
Date: 2010-06-27 09:24 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-06-28 12:30 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-06-28 02:43 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-06-28 06:25 pm (UTC)From:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWlI-CMYU3c
no subject
Date: 2010-06-28 10:49 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-06-29 05:56 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-06-29 11:11 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-07-05 06:31 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-07-05 07:24 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-07-06 06:56 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-06-30 02:05 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-06-30 04:10 am (UTC)From: