So this is super late, but I wanted to wait until I got home from Toronto so that I could write this on my computer.
The doors to the venue were supposed to open at around 8 PM, so I got there at 7. There were already people lined up. The wait felt like it lasted forever. It was my very first Vanessa concert, so I was super excited, and I had also won a meet & greet, which I was crazy nervous about!
The venue was pretty intimate. Almost standing room only.
At the merch table they were selling copies of Liberman & ROTR, as well as the vinyls. They were also selling cassette copies of Liberman. Blast from the past! They also had the Victor/horse t-shirts & the black hoodie and t-shirt with the blue, orange and yellow design.
Joshua Hyslop played a 45 minutes-ish set. He was pretty good. I liked Let it Go and Stand Your Ground.
After his set I got to do the meet & greet. I was kind of disappointed because it was super short, but I was expecting it so it was ok. When I saw Vanessa I said hello, and I told her that I was so excited that I had gotten the chance to meet her. She went for a handshake and at the same time I went in for a hug, and she was like 'oh we're doing a hug', so I was kind of embarrassed but she was really nice about it and gave me a hug. She looked amazing! Like her makeup was totally on point, and her hair looked great. I told her I loved her black leather jacket and she thanked me. I got to ask her how Sid was doing, and she told me that she was back in Nashville because the tour had kind exhausted her and she needed a break. After that she signed my album and greeted the other person who had won the meet & greet. After the autographs we got to do pictures.
While the other meet & greet winner was taking her picture, I noticed that Skye was sitting nearby. I asked him how he was doing, and if he had his pedals with him. He said he did, so I told him that I was super excited for the show. I was soooo tempted to ask for a picture with him too, but I was too shy.
That was pretty much the meet & greet. Even though it was really short, I'm extremely happy I got the chance to meet Vanessa.
The show was absolutely fantastic. Vanessa was amazing. She played Carousel w/ Learning to Fly as an intro, then she played Tall Tales. Then she paused to talk a bit and said that 'before going forward we had to go back'. She explained the whole story about Edmund & White Houses, and played it. After White Houses, she said they had decided to play all the Liberman songs together, because since they were in their own 'musical world' it worked better. She started with Take it Easy, then did: Willows, House of Seven Swords, Blue Pool, Operator, Nothing Where Something Used To Be, River.
Before House of Seven Swords she talked about finding a deck of tarot cards in a desk in her house and looking up the meaning of the House of Seven Swords card. Before River she said that this was the only song she thinks of singing to Sid when she's crying because she doesn't know any lullabies.
After River she said explained that when she was studying in ballet school, there was a teacher that she really didn't like, so she started skipping her class. During that time she would play on a piano that had been donated to the school and started writing real songs, and it was how she had gotten her start as a songwriter. Then she said that she's realized that people still come to her shows if she doesn't play this song, but she still does it because she's nice. She started ATM and every went crazy.
She played Hear the Bells and The Marching Line last, and dedicated the latter to the victims of the Paris attacks.
Some of the songs might not be in order, because I'm doing this from memory and my memory is terrible lol. I tried to get the setlist but this very determined girl got it instead.
The show was absolutely fantastic. I really hope that I'm going to get the chance to see Vanessa live again!
Here are a few pictures that I took:
Here is Skye and the weiner banner. Vanessa explained that Victor had been replaced by Sid, because she hadn't been ready to try touring with a baby AND a dog, but that Victor was super pissed about it.
