This is a slightly tinkered-with cut-and-paste of what I already wrote on Facebook, but it will suffice!
Nick Lowe y Los Straitjackets tonight were quite marvelous, in a restrained, mature, but very enjoyable way. While I love some of his peppier numbers -- like "Tokyo Bay" and "I Knew the Bride" -- tonight, for whatever reason, the slower, quieter songs were the most moving, most engaging, like "Blue on Blue," "House for Sale," a positively plaintive "(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding," "Lately I've Let Things Slide" and a final solo encore of "Alison" that held a 4/5ths-full Vogue in rapt attention....
I learned three things about the Vogue tonight: 1. That the balcony seats, which I usually avoid, are in fact roomier in all directions, so you aren't butt-up to the butt of the person next to you and your knees aren't pressed into the back of the seat ahead -- you can even manspread a bit (if you're a man? Does one womanspread? It sounds a bit indelicate... I propose the term "transpread" for non-binary folks who like their legs wide... in any case, you have a bit of room to move out, and maybe more seating options to boot); 2. that the audience up there (at least tonight) actually didn't talk much -- they listened pretty attentively, unlike the lower echelons, which were pretty darn chatty (I won't name names); 3 that if a guitar has a lot of reverb on it, that reverb will fill the balcony space in marvelous ways during solos, which actually was value-added (especially for "Blue on Blue," which sounded just gorgeous). I was down front for a bit, then spent a few songs in the lower level seats, but to my surprise, enjoyed myself in the balcony the most!
And while I was initially disappointed at the move from the Biltmore to the Vogue, when you saw how many people were at the Vogue, you could understand. The Biltmore never made sense, but that was what appealed to me -- seeing this world-class band in a smallish venue (note: the Minus 5 are coming there soon). I figured it would be harder to run from requests to sign records at the Biltmore, too (the Vogue has a huge backstage area into which the band can retreat; I didn't bother to see if they'd come out).
But Mr. Lowe was ever the gentleman, very polite and even a bit chatty at times, his singing gorgeous and his delicate, gestural strumming quite magical to watch; while Los Straitjackets, during their solo portions (at the start of the two encores, and once in the middle of the main set) did a couple of marvelously fun covers, like "My Heart Will Go On," "Venus," and.. was that the National Geographic theme they covered, or did it just sound that way? (Tony Lee says it was The Magnificent Seven theme!). Lowe got standing ovations at a couple of points (at least from a balcony POV) and was very appreciative (and also grateful that it was the last date in his west coast tour -- he told us how happy he was that their next stop was the airport, which I think I caught in the clip I posted above, but if not... that was the context).
I have now seen Mr. Lowe twice, and been very satisfied (even got to see him sing with Elvis Costello a couple of years ago... someone else I'd like to see twice!). I don't know that our paths will cross again, but I'm happy to have both Indoor Safari and The Convincer (which is where the song in the comments first appeared) in my collection, even if I didn't get them scribbled on... and I'm delighted that the song he played, when my camera was rolling, was precisely the song I had hoped to get on video. It's a good one! Thank you, Mr. Lowe!
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