Warning, long post 
Here we go… my account of the evening…
There was this guy called Simon Bruce as the opening act, he played acoustically with what I’m pretty sure was a Gibson hummingbird. I didn’t know there was an opening act, and although he was good, I was just waiting for him to get off the damn stage.
He played for around half an hour I think, and Vanessa came onstage around 9. She wasn’t introduced or anything, she just walked on (to a handful of cheers) waved, said hi, then went straight into playing Papa.
This is the funny bit. When she got to the vocal part, the microphone was dodgy and wasn’t working.
The look on Vanessa’s face was so funny as she was trying to signal to the backstage guys to fix the mic. It came on and off, and when it temporarily worked she said “hi”. Then the mic stopped working again, so she just continued playing Papa as an instrumental, until the sound guy Chuck came onstage to set up a new mic for her and she said “this is Chuck, he’s about to save my ass”.
Then Vanessa went into playing San Francisco. There were a few lyric changes in the bridge.
This:
The buzz, the buzz of the city, as we settle in its majesty… was replaced by this:
Love, I know always
And it’s all I know when I see you ‘cause…The piano riff sounded a little bit different, I think she changed one note in it or something.
Next up was Ordinary Day and she told us this was the first song she ever wrote in one sitting. She played the “divide and conquer” version. At this point in the show I firstly tested that my mp3 player had been working, and then thought I’d get out my camera and try and take a few photos but I got told off by staff- they were like ‘no recording devices’ and I wasn’t even using a flash. I even got it out again later but saw the same lady walking back my way so I looked the other way.
Who’s to Say was MAGICAL. I was absolutely blown away. The lighting was really beautiful too, they had stars on the black backdrop, and lights shining down on Vanessa at the piano.
Before playing White Houses, Nessa went on to explain the whole MTV and VH1 censoring the song thing, and she also said that she left her record company. You can hear all of this in the recording.
Put Your Hands On Me was another highlight of the show. Absolutely fantastic. There was a small lyric change in this song too.
We crossed the deepest oceans
cargo across the sea
And if you don’t believe me,
Just put your hands on me.
And all the constellations Shine down for us to see And if you don’t believe me,
Just put your hands on me. After that she played This Time, and Best Behaviour, and with BB it was quite funny because she couldn’t remember how to play the song. She was all, “shit maybe I can’t play this right now because I can’t remember it”.
Then it was the premiere of the new song, All Is Well. When she said she had never played it anywhere before ever, I was like…ooooh special we’re in for a treat! And it’s such a beautiful song too.
The last of the new songs was The One, and some of the music sounded like it had been changed slightly (in the verse it sounded like she used chords more). It was so awesome. When introducing the song she said that “it’s really sad when you know that you’re right for somebody, and they don’t know….. it’s a real bummer”. Everyone was laughing at that, it was quite funny. She went on to say “this is a song dedicated to all the people who just don’t know what they’re missing”.
Rinse was up next, but she was getting short on breath because her dress was too tight and had to unzip it a bit. I’m sure the guys loved it when she realised her bra strap was visible.
Vanessa talked about how Rinse was about her friend who had stalked a guy to the point of serious obsession. She dedicated the song “to all the ladies in the audience who at one point or another in their life stalked a man…….not that I ever did it….”.
After Rinse, Vanessa started talking about how she wants to learn to surf here, then about her fear of sharks (she thought there was one in the hotel pool), then she talked about her other obsession… vampires.
This is when I realised the song she would play next, which I think is one of the more beautiful piano pieces and was so excited to be able to hear it live.
As she was talking about the whole vampires killing unicorns thing, there were a few gasps from the audience who probably thought it was horrible. She then proceeded to play! The intro to Half a Week Before the Winter was really beautiful and I loved this song a lot. The fade out with the vocal at the end is also really awesome which you’ll hear on the audio track.
Finally was A Thousand Miles, then Vanessa got up to curtsey, and left the stage. We kept cheering for a bit then she came back to play Twilight, which was also one of the highlights of the evening. She curtseyed again and blew a kiss to the audience and many of us gave her a standing ovation!
After most people had cleared out, there were a couple of fans waiting by the stage with Harmonium copies hoping that Vanessa would come and sign them. My table was close to the stage so I just waited there incase she did come out, but the security guy came and said Vanessa wasn’t coming. I saw that some girl got the setlist, so lucky her!
So I left, but didn’t go downstairs straight away. I then saw the people who had waited by the stage, so I went and asked them if they got anything signed, and sure enough they had a copy of Harmonium and a few concert tickets signed, but Vanessa didn’t actually come out, the security guy took the things backstage for her to sign, because I think he was pissed off with them for not leaving. It pays to be a pain! Hehe. I was a bit jealous, but it’s not the same thing as actually getting Vanessa to sign it infront of you, I guess.
Anyway, it was an AMAZING show. It was indescribable seeing Vanessa play live. I admire her so much and have a ton of respect for what she does, not to mention that her music really influences and inspires me.
I also forgot to mention how much her voice has improved. I was so impressed with how amazing her peformance was.
Highlights:
Who’s to say
Half a week before the winter
Put your hands on me
Twilight
The one
All is well
Best behaviour
Dammit all of them!!
