Author Topic: 10/8/11 - House of Blues, Boston, MA (review)  (Read 4887 times)

theone

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10/8/11 - House of Blues, Boston, MA (review)
« on: October 08, 2011, 10:44:04 pm »
Greetings guyz!  First time poster here…who JUST returned from V’s show at HOB Bahston. My hometown. 

I thought there would be a review already but there isn’t. So I’m going to write an essay. But here’s the short version if you don’t have time to read 1,000 words: SICK SHOW. Loving crowd (imop)! Solid-solid-SOLID set of old & new! 40 mins. Chocolate and vinyl back in the shop! Pics during the meet & greet!

Long Version.
Absolutely perfect night for a show that was practically under the Green Monster for any MLB fans out there. And yeah the gig was indoors but whatever. The setting sun glowed in a cloudless sky until doors opened. And what a s-h-o-w. Chill & candid. Vanessa killed it, but I’m going to give some cred to my city for the awesome vibe (which I’ll get to later, as I was in NYC for her Terminal5 show last Friday).

Setlist…from what I can remember was:
Carousel w/Learning to Fly Intro
White Houses!!!
Hands on Me!!!
Fairweather Friend
London
Hear the Bellz!!!
A Thousand Miles!!!
I Don’t Want to Be a Bride

I think the order might be off. Mmmk? I’d consumed two vodka redbulls by the time she took the stage. So I stand to be corrected if anyone can right my wrong. On the other hand, I DO remember a lot of stuff she said. All of that goodness follows below. Also, Skye but no Ari. 
 
THE GOOD STUFF.

Tons of great moments. When she walked on stage and sat down there was a heap of applause, followed by slight quiet, followed by “vanessaaaaaaa” from some dudes on the floor, which got people laughing/clapping again, which got her smiling in an  amused/humble/self-aware sort of way behind the keyboards (if that makes sense) before launching into Carousel. We definitely had some clapping on the third floor, and lots of applause at the end to which she raised-her-hands-to-her shoulders and smiled.  Around the 3rd song she told us she loved boston and it was great to be back here followed by familiar stuff like how she hung out with Hobbits “in the Shire for a year” making ROTR after “not doing much of anything” except “writing weird instrumental pieces.”   

She gave the “don’t read letters that are not intended for you” advice before Fairweather Friend. Hear the Bells was amaaazzzing tonight. White Houses was dope, but it did not get a huge sing along from what I could hear on 3. 

I wish I could remember what song this happened with, but early to mid way thru her set, she played the first bar of a song…sang the first line…and then just stopped & leaned into her mike, asking if it was possible for the lighting guy to take the gels down a notch, b/c she was melting. She motioned to her piano as he worked on it, saying she’d like to “heat the place with this” followed by “ohhh that’s already better!” the moment he slashed some lights.

Before playing a note of ATM, she mentioned how she was grateful for the song she wrote at 16 years old for enabling her to do an analogue record. When she played the first little bit the place got ELECTRIC.  Now the best part…after the “I, I, don’t want to let this go…I, I…” part, the piano stops and we hear “Shit I forgot it!”

Sidebar: please tell me someone got this on camera. It was great. Scour YouTube tomorrow morning!   

Cue tons of (kind) laughter and cheers from the crowd, she looks at Skye and cracks up saying “how many times have I sung this!” then somehow manages to pick up right where she left off, with the “making my way” part.

Before IDWTBAB, she mentioned she sold out of the vinyl but just got another shipment in, said her friend Joe in the UK did all the ROTR artwork, and that “night shop” is sexier than “merch table.”

She thanked Matt & his crew, and the audience for catching her set as she hasn’t “been out in a long ass time.”  And earlier---I half caught this---she said something about how she knows this is a rock show (referring to Matt), and that she was grateful for having us come to her set considering she “kind-of a baroque rock show.”

All in all awesome night. And I’ll say this…DEFINITELY noticed a huge difference between the NYC show and this one.  First off --- I can’t believe I’m saying this --- but I think our Boston/Masshole crowd was quite warm and into her set compared to Terminal5. People seemed to be up against the rails versus hanging around the bar. And best of all it didn't sound like she was playing over a DIN of people yapping/shouting at each other. Also, call me crazy but it seemed like she got more applause in Boston than NYC.  Guess it could be a combination of the acoustics of the place and where I was sitting. But for now that’s my story & and I’m sticking to it.
xx

p.s. I’ll post a few more tid bits from the NYC show on the Term5 thread tmrw


 

[sobriquet]

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Re: 10/8/11 - House of Blues, Boston, MA (review)
« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2011, 10:54:51 pm »
Please tell me you had your camera wit you (or any recorder, for that matter...)

Thanks for the detailed narrative!  ;D

Floating on the sea, stars are watching me. Currents take me out, what will be will be.

sarab

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Re: 10/8/11 - House of Blues, Boston, MA (review)
« Reply #2 on: October 08, 2011, 11:01:12 pm »
So glad to see a new poster! thanks for all the info.  I'm mad at her for playing hear the bells at this show and not at the show I went to! LOL.  I love Boston over NYC any day :)
~Sara~

theone

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Re: 10/8/11 - House of Blues, Boston, MA (review)
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2011, 12:01:53 am »
Thx guys!

sobriquet, no vids. Bummer i kno! My boyfriend broke my point and shoot last month and I've been too busy to figure out what to replace it with. But he did get both sets of tix so i can't be too mad. My iphone from 2008 is the one with no vid!

sarab! Bummer you didn't get bells. When you DO hear it full blast and in person :), let me know if you love way she's opens it as much as I do. 
(Bos > NYC, yes!!! So true! sometimes I feel like the only one who thinks so. Like nyc in bits and pieces)

 

sarab

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Re: 10/8/11 - House of Blues, Boston, MA (review)
« Reply #4 on: October 09, 2011, 12:07:46 am »
Thx guys!

sobriquet, no vids. Bummer i kno! My boyfriend broke my point and shoot last month and I've been too busy to figure out what to replace it with. But he did get both sets of tix so i can't be too mad. My iphone from 2008 is the one with no vid!

sarab! Bummer you didn't get bells. When you DO hear it full blast and in person :), let me know if you love way she's opens it as much as I do. 
(Bos > NYC, yes!!! So true! sometimes I feel like the only one who thinks so. Like nyc in bits and pieces)

 

I have been holding off on watching any videos of HTB until I hear it live myself first. 
I've been to Boston a lot more than NYC (which was only twice and only for 2 days each time) so I might be a bit biased.  I just feel a lot safer in Boston and for the most part people are a lot friendlier.  I stayed with my sister for a week when she lived in the city and I used to take the T everywhere by myself and just walk around exploring and never felt unsafe.  The only thing is for the most part everyone is so put together and I always felt like a tourist, never a part of the city (but that's my own mentalness, not the city's fault)
~Sara~

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Re: 10/8/11 - House of Blues, Boston, MA (review)
« Reply #5 on: October 09, 2011, 12:26:39 am »
Thanks for the awesome review. Glad you had a good time and welcome to the board!

barefootonbeaches

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Re: 10/8/11 - House of Blues, Boston, MA (review)
« Reply #6 on: October 09, 2011, 03:25:27 pm »
Wow, thanks for such a detailed review! Has anyone taken a picture of her "night shop?" I want to see what it looks like. Every time someone mentions it, I picture some kind of mystic/dark covered wagon or something!  ;D
I have a really cool The Fray gif that I would like to put here, but I don't know how. :(

sarab

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Re: 10/8/11 - House of Blues, Boston, MA (review)
« Reply #7 on: October 10, 2011, 01:31:22 am »
LOL.  At buffalo it was just a table set up with stuff on it.  There were people there selling stuff for matt two.  (two long tables set up in a corner) the lighting was normal .. lol.  But she should SO have black lace or something drapped over the table, that would be very cool.  I a dream I had it was at a high table so she could sit and she had a victorian looking table mirror that had writing in red lipstick of the things available and their prices.
~Sara~

Arwen

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Re: 10/8/11 - House of Blues, Boston, MA (review)
« Reply #8 on: October 10, 2011, 05:19:05 am »
LOL.  At buffalo it was just a table set up with stuff on it.  There were people there selling stuff for matt two.  (two long tables set up in a corner) the lighting was normal .. lol.  But she should SO have black lace or something drapped over the table, that would be very cool.  I a dream I had it was at a high table so she could sit and she had a victorian looking table mirror that had writing in red lipstick of the things available and their prices.

That's really weird because at one of the shows at the 9:30 club there was a mirror with writing in lipstick on it that had the prices!

sarab

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Re: 10/8/11 - House of Blues, Boston, MA (review)
« Reply #9 on: October 10, 2011, 02:10:56 pm »
LOL.  At buffalo it was just a table set up with stuff on it.  There were people there selling stuff for matt two.  (two long tables set up in a corner) the lighting was normal .. lol.  But she should SO have black lace or something drapped over the table, that would be very cool.  I a dream I had it was at a high table so she could sit and she had a victorian looking table mirror that had writing in red lipstick of the things available and their prices.

That's really weird because at one of the shows at the 9:30 club there was a mirror with writing in lipstick on it that had the prices!

ahhh!  maybe I read that and incorporated it into my dream.. I can't remember when the dream was so it's very possible.
~Sara~

Arwen

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Re: 10/8/11 - House of Blues, Boston, MA (review)
« Reply #10 on: October 12, 2011, 10:45:39 am »
Wow, thanks for such a detailed review! Has anyone taken a picture of her "night shop?" I want to see what it looks like. Every time someone mentions it, I picture some kind of mystic/dark covered wagon or something!  ;D

Lol, Vanessa just tweeted a pic of it:

« Last Edit: October 12, 2011, 10:47:52 am by Arwen »

beautydivine

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Re: 10/8/11 - House of Blues, Boston, MA (review)
« Reply #11 on: October 12, 2011, 01:23:38 pm »
Thanks for all of the deets (details)  ;D You're right about this crowd seeming warmer to her, it shows in the description. Can't wait til she picks up on her own tour again. And she needs to return to San Francisco, as soon as possible  :)

barefootonbeaches

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Re: 10/8/11 - House of Blues, Boston, MA (review)
« Reply #12 on: October 12, 2011, 06:15:05 pm »
Oh wow, that's cool how she tweeted that just as I was thinking it! That's pretty close to how I imagined it. Except maybe with a black cloth draped over it.
I have a really cool The Fray gif that I would like to put here, but I don't know how. :(