Hello,
I didn't know if I should title my blog the title I gave it or "Papa Please Don't Bring Your Floozie To Town". I decided to go the positive route. What my alternate title refers to is the four morons that sat in front of us at the Sheryl Crow concert last night. They were four drunk dorks- two males and two females- who ruined the concert for anyone near them. They danced horribly, drank to excess and invaded everyone's personal space, while the other two guys and girls felt her up. One woman in particular in this group was completely out of control. She apparantally was the sexual object for the other three freaks. It was a really terrible display of vulgarity and stupidity. I kept on hoping that security would notice but they never did. I don't even know if they would have done anything. However their behavior crossed over the lines of good taste. Please don't bring your bedroom behavior into the public. Please, please when you go to a concert be respectful to those people around you. Be appropriate in physical intimacy in public events, especially with children around. Everyone is there to have fun time, but your being jerks ruined it for a lot of other people. After the concert was over the 3 other people hopefully left the drunken female idiot behind.
Other than that terribly distracting nonsense the concert was fantastic. The weather was perfect. Our seats were great, other than the morons in front of us, and we were able to see the artists well. The sound was pretty good and the performances were great. I mean I hate focusing on it, but everything else about the concert was perfect except the drunken dimwits.
The first artists were the Jamaican Reggae legends Toots and the Maytals. They played 8 songs in their 40 minutes. They started off with "Sitting In The Summer Sun". That is a typical of their music and reggae in general. It's a funky reggae song. Toots have been playing since the mid 60's but they don't have many well known songs. He claims they were the comes who came up with the word "reggae". I don't know if that's true, but they play it very well. They seem to acknowledge their all unfamiliar songs by doing a couple of covers. They covered The Kingsmen "Louie, Louie" and they also covered John Denver's "Country Roads". Substituting "West Jamaica" for "West Virgina" in the chorus. Overall they were pretty good for an opening act. Although they are a pale comparison of Reggae legend Bob Marley. I kept on wanting to yell out for them to play some Bob Marley, but that seemed to be inappropriate.
After a short break it was time for the 11 song, 55 minute set of James Blunt and his crack band. They came on stage in very dapper dress. They mixed up songs from both of Blunt's CDs. He started off his set with a song that I was not able to pick out the title. It is a good song though, a proper introduction to the music of James Blunt. (See full setlist below.) Some of the highlights included "Carry You Home" which Blunt called "a really miserable song". Other highlights included "Goodbye My Lover", "Same Mistake" and set closer "1973". He also sang one of my all-time personal favorites by anyone, "You're Beautiful". I know a lot of people have tired of this song, but for some reason I never did. That is just a perfect pop song. I finally had insight on one of his songs, "So Long Jimmy". I could not figure out who he was singing this song to. He is an avowed heterosexual, in fact he has quite the way with the ladies. So I didn't think he would be singing this song to a guy and I have never heard of a girl named Jimmy. Then the lightbulb came on and I realized he was singing it from the girls point of view and it was directed at him- Jimmy.
James Blunt and his band were fantastic. About halfway through his show he jumped down in front of the stage and then ran out into the audience slapping hands with several people. That seemed to be completely spontaneous as security was caught completely unaware. Hopefully they have recovered from the shock they gave him. Again the only downside of his set were the 4 idiots in front of us who came in the show about halfway through his set. It's too bad that they are going to be one of the prevailing memories of this otherwise fantastic night. I think concert venues need to set some kind of standards against idiot behavior. That being said if you get the chance to see James Blunt do it. He is very good.
James Blunt setlist
1) ""
2) "Wisemen"
3) "Carry You Home"
4) "I'll Take Everything"
5) "Goodbye My Lover"
6) "One of the Brightest Stars"
7) ""
8) "You're Beautiful"
9) "So Long Jimmy"
10) "Same Mistake"
11) "1973"
After only about 20 minutes it was time for Miss Sheryl Crow and her crack band to take the stage. Crow ripped through 18 songs in 100 minutes. Like Blunt she rocked out on many of her more mellow songs. To start Sheryl Crow took the stage by herself with only her acoustic guitar. She sang a song off her new CD "Detours" called "God Bless This Mess". (See full setlist below.) The band then joined her for the rest of the night with "Shine Over Babylon". That is one of the 7 songs she sang from her new CD, "Detours". The third song is what lead to the title of this blog entry. She sang "Love Is Free". A shirt bearing that sentiment was selling for $30. Then she sang three of her bigger hits: "Leaving Las Vegas", "Strong Enough" and "I Can't Cry Anymore". Other highlights included "Motivation", a song which she said about all the new, famous people there are now. That includes people famous for nothing, she name checked Paris Hilton before tearing into the song.
For her next song, which she desribed as one of her favorite songs, she sang Cat Stevens "The First Cut Is The Deepest". She sang that with James Blunt. She sang some new songs and another classic and then she sang the lowlight of the night for her. She sang the very slow and boring "Weather Channel". That song killed the momentum of the concert. However a rockin' version of "If It Makes You Happy" reignited the concert and the crowd. She closed out the main set with "Soak Up The Sun" and "Love Is A Winding Road" before leaving the stage. She took the traditional 5 minute break as the crowd urged her and her band to come back for more. She then sang "All I Wanna Do" in which she name checked Salt Lake City. We responded with enthusiastic response. For her final song of the night she brought Toots back on and they covered Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground". She urged everyone to download his CD.
Overall a fantastic set with many highlights. Her new CD is fantastic which added to overall quality of her set.
1) "God Bless This Mess" Crow sang all by herself
2) "Shine On Babylon" The band comes on at the start of this song.
3) "Love Is Free"
4) "Leaving Las Vegas" Extended jam with audience participation
5) "Strong Enough" Slowed down version.
6) "I Can't Cry Anymore" tagging on "I Can See Clearly Now" in an extended jam
7) "Motivation" a rocked out version
8) "The First Cut Is The Deepest" duet with James Blunt
9) "Favorite Mistake" rocking version of this song
10) "Gasoline" with a tag of a Who song
11) "Detours" (Paper Thin Heart)
12) "Weather Channel" This song was the lowlight of the night for Crow and her band. An extremely slow and boring show.
13) "If It Makes You Happy"
14) "Out of Our Heads"
15) "Soak Up The Sun"
16) "Everyday Is A Winding Road"
Brief break, then encore
17) "All I Wanna Do"
18) "Higher Ground" a Stevie Wonder cover sang with Toots
Other notes if you would like you can see the setlist and a picture of her performing last night at her website sherylcrow.com. She did not run out into the audience unfortunately. She briefly mentioned the adoption of her son Wyatt and her battle and victory over breast cancer. However there was no mention of Lance Armstrong. She also didn't sing her song that best describes her relationship with Armstrong "Diamond Ring". She also hilariously introduced her band members and that they were from local Utah cities before admitting they weren't. Overall a great performance by Sheryl Crow and her band only to be marred by the drunken dimwits in front of us. Also Sheryl Crow's new CD is very good. I would also highly reccomend both CD's by James Blunt.
I would also like to thank my Mom for buying my ticket, that was awesome. I would also like to thank Tim, Dad, Justin and Mom for being such good company. Also a personal shout out to the Head Coach of BYU's Men's Basketball team, Dave Rose. It is good to see the coach with such great taste. Don't worry BYU will be just fine without Trent Plaisted. I promise that really was not my beer. That stuff even smells bad.
Tomorrow I will be back will a regular blog entry including news about adding a fourth judge to "AI" and my opinion of that. Peace, themusicaddict
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