Well, the two-week birthday season began in earnest last night with Derek Webb's show at the House of Blues (small room, edition). I almost managed to end up seeing the show going on in the big room, courtesy of an inattentive moment by the ticket taker. After discovering that they sold the wrong concert t-shirts in a room that was way too spacious, I found my way over to the correct place ... smaller, proper concert t-shirts, slightly less hip people, but cool enough to spend some time with for an evening.
It's ironic that there have been two shows that have caused me to contemplate skipping church on Saturday. Both by bands that have gone in very different musical directions from their earlier releases. The Elms played a recent Saturday at the Warehouse. I don't doubt for a second that I'd have enjoyed their musical style a bit more than I do the latest Derek Webb material. But I'd be kicking myself for a long time if I didn't catch Webb's show. So I opted for the pseudo-techno tunes with Webb's "evil twin" playing a lot of bass guitar in a three-piece band. Musically, not entirely my cup of tea. But Derek Webb is worth the attention for his lyrics above all else. So no regrets ... but The Elms are still on my to-do list for next time around.
Marc Scibilia opened the show with a one-man acoustic set (no Sandra McCracken ... bummer!). I'd think the guy would have to work overtime to avoid comparisons to Dylan. Scibilia works with the comparison, however, going all-out harmonica necklace late in the set. His stuff grew on me over the 45 minute set and as soon as his latest release turns up somewhere other than itunes, I'll be all over that material in particular, "How Bad We Need Each Other" ranking as a personal preference of the material offered.
As for Derek's show, I'm not sure whether I should spend more time regaling the light show put on in a club room that holds less than 200 people, or speculate how much of the music was real and how much was synthesized and/or pre-recorded. Does any of that matter, though? If you know who Webb is and you get his stuff, anything he does around the lyrics is likely to be well received. If not, anything I offer will only confuse.
I did enjoy that he played every track from Stockholm Syndrome, the latest release. But I'll register a minor gripe that there was nothing offered from Mockingbird. The "classics" got the acoustic treatment, while the new stuff got the techno treatment. Not a bad song in the set ... just not enough hours in the evening to fit in more.
The show was also my first opportunity to soak up the new House of Blues venue, much to my approval. Can't wait to see Stryper in the big room next week. I've finally managed to get my Birthday list together, with everything going on in the coming two weeks that's of interest to me. Two concerts, two books, a new CD, a cool movie opening, and Darlene Zschech at Lakewood. I managed to discover that Itzhak Perlman is coming to town on November 4th at Jones Hall. I'm inclined to add it to the list. It's gonna get awfully busy here real quick-like.
