some need the exhibition

I am not your typical concert-goer. I don't wear the t-shirts, I don't dance, I don't even really stand much. I like to kick back and just watch & listen. Small venues or large, I prefer to just soak it in. I don't like the beach balls randomly flying through the air under the assumption that all 3000 people will want to be surprised with a knock on the back of the head. I don't like unnecessarily screaming. I don't take pictures of an empty stage. I don't take many pictures at all. I certainly don't take pictures in front of a picture of the musician I'm seeing.
Being the kind of concert-goer that I am, a venue like Superpages can be extremely annoying. But it is always worth it.
We had great seats this year, and even though we spent about in hour sitting in unbearably oppressive, breath-like, hot air... it was an exquisite show.

Colbie Caillat was....a true disappointment. I've always given her major cool points for being a smokin' hot lady with mad guitar skills, a killer voice, and the all boy band. And yes - she had a good sound, but she didn't PLAY anything! She lost a lot of her cool points with me when I realized she really was just gonns flit around the stage going back and forth between the boys jirating and tappin her hip. She sang songs in the order they are on her album...it was incredibly original. She played her guitar for Bubbly only, and you all know how that song goes.... pluck, pluck... pluck, pluck. I will say that her Jackson 5 ditty was fun, and I appreciated her intro to Realize - what girl can't relate to that song?
I wasn't impressed with her much-too-yuppy persona. I regret to say she made me a little sad.

Here's the good stuff.

About an hour before the opening opener was supossed to go on, the power went out. At 6:30pm on an August evening in Texas, that means it gets real hot, real quick. So to our relief, about 90 minutes later, the power cam back on, the show went on, and along with the sun going down, our temperatures started to drop.
That is until John came on stage around 9:30.....shirtless.

Bigger Than My Body was the opener, which was just the first Heavier Things surprise. It didn't take a genuis to figure out he was some kind of hyper...maybe he was just glad to see us. Maybe John is on Spark or some other vitamin supplement cuz he sure was excited to be with us. After a giddy "Last year, Dallas and Houston kiiiiiiiiiiiilled it." he went into Belief, which is always good live. We were lucky enough to hear more covers than normal, the first of which being Clapton's Crossraods. Intro-ing into I Don't Trust Myself he crooned, "Everybody asks me how she's doin...everybody asks me how she's doin...I say I'm doin fine." He danced a lot...I swear I've never seen someone do so many jumpin jacks WHILE whaling away on the guitar. He was acting like my little siblings on Christmas morning. He's definetly been workin on his tricks:
I used to not be a fan of the trumpets, but the trumpet solo opening, and DRH's bridge was fantastic.
I love live John; he's always checkin in. "You havin a good time so far?" It's nice of him to check in.
The Daughter's intro was not what I was expecting. He started goin on and on about history and chemistry and how you've always got to have them. He says history is different when you only have 15 years of it, but when you start getting 30 years of it, things get a little more complicated so the chemistry's gotta be crazy strong. He was talking about rainbows & clouds...you've gotta have one to get the other. It kinda gave some more insight into the song.
And this is when it got REAL good.

Good Love Is On the Way followed by covers two and three: Mercy from Duffy (a new one I'm still learning, but I like) and the newest song to sing me to sleep, acoustic Free Fallin' with DRH.
I was thrilled to hear a live Stitched Up and even more thrilled to hear the "I'm not exactly the embodiment of this song anymore" intro to No Such Thing, mixed with a brief My Stupid Mouth-turns into-Why Georgia.
The other delightful Heavier Things ditty was Come Back to Bed, which reminded me of the olden days when I was hearing brand new music at my first John show. Nothing really tops the beatbox (who doesn't love a shirtless man who can beatbox?) intro into Vultures. He gave a shout out to all the "grass people" (which means those seated on the lawn...among whom were probably several "grass people") just before the most incredibly trick of all. I don't know what you call this one, but it was sort of a hug and switcheroo with DRH:
He ended with Waiting, which while a little overplayed, was a fun one.
I was elated that my vote for the Encore won out...In Your Atmosphere. Which, if you haven't picked up Where The Light Is, you REALLY need to even if it's just for that one song. Incredible.
Encore was made complete with a super blusy Cold Shot and wrapped up with Gravity. I tell ya...I've got a completely different understanding of that song. He gave an almost pastor-like schpill about how by the grace of God he had never had to deal with a "darkness" in his life; no drugs or alcohol strongholds, or dark depressions or weighty, oppressive seasons in life that are the result of wanting too much. He was - at least he came across like he was genuinely humbled by his fortunate life circumstances. He seemed sincerely aware of how quickly one's life can fall apart. Even those who seem to have it all together. I love John, but I'm not gonna lie, it was a little cheesy how moving it was.
Honestly - I have never really thought he was an attractive man. But how can you not wanna spend some QT with a guy who has mad guitar skills, is tatted up, a phenominal lookin' watch, isn't wearin a shirt, has just spent the last two & half hours bein crazy goofy and simultaneously serious.

Thanks for not stayin away too long... here's to next year.