30 Seconds to Mars - Agganis Arena, Boston 5.1.11

I was not only lucky enough to win tickets for this show, but I also won meet and greet passes to meet the band beforehand. I had never seen them live before, but have loved This is War since I heard it and I'd heard nothing but good things about them in concert, so I was excited. I had no idea if my tickets would be GA floor or if they would be assigned seating, so I arrived at the Agganis Arena early. Apparently, arriving early paid off - I got street parking - score! I picked up my tickets and stressed a little as no one seemed to know anything about the meet and greet for the radio station.

Better Than Ezra - Paradise Rock Club 12.9.10

I won tickets to see Better Than Ezra play at Paradise when they were in town a couple of weeks ago, and while I was hesitant to go since it was a last minute thing - I couldn't find anyone who would go with me, and I didn't know anyone there - I'm glad I did. I was also interested to see the renovated Paradise. I had been there earlier in the year to see a different show and hadn't been back since they'd reopened. I like Paradise a lot - even though its 850 capacity, it still feels really intimate - plus its in a great location in Boston and very easy to get to. Its easily one of my favorite music venues. Doors for the show were at 8, as the show was at 9, so I arrived about 20 minutes after doors opened, picked up my tickets and headed in. There was a good crowd of people already in front of the stage and I started out third 'row' for the opener.

Kris Allen & Lifehouse - Orpheum Theater Boston 10.16.10

Saturday night I headed into Boston to see Kris Allen and Lifehouse play the second show of the Smoke and Mirrors tour. I was at the kickoff show Friday night at Foxwoods as well (Blog to come on that soon), but Saturday night was definitely the better of the two shows, mainly because the crowd was way more into it. Anyway, after hitting traffic and missing the entrance to the Boston Common parking garage, I met up with Sandy and Reenie and we walked over the venue together. Doors were open already, so we headed in to find our seats. The Orpheum Theater is pretty tiny - I believe it only seats about 1500, and even though we had 3rd row mezzanine, we were much closer then I thought we'd be. Actually even though I was farther away in Boston, I felt that those seats were better then my 9th row that I had at Foxwoods (off to the left side).

Jimmy Gnecco w/Plain Jane Automobile - Hard Rock Cafe, Boston 9.28.10

I was excited about this show when it was first announced as it's been about 2 years since Jimmy's played in Boston and headlined. He was here opening for Greg Laswell in May, but the last time Jimmy was in Boston with his band was September 24, 2008. Fun fact about that date - it was the first time I'd ever seen Jimmy play live - and as you can see, it certainly hasn't been the last. The fact that this show was almost 2 years to the date of my first show made it a bit more special. Michelle came up from Philadelphia to go to the show with me, and it was fun to see her - I really can't believe she did the trek from Philly for a day - but I'm glad she did!

I met up with her around 5:30 and we went, had dinner and caught up before heading over to the Hard Rock. We arrived a bit early and doors weren't open just yet, so we poked around in the store and wandered outside to see if we'd run into anyone we knew. Instead, we found that we could see Plain Jane soundchecking and watched them for a few minutes before Duke turned around, saw us standing there and waved. We hung for a little while longer before heading back into the Hard Rock where doors had just opened, so we made our way into the venue and grabbed a couple of seats on the floor close to the stage. There were plenty of tables which started to fill up, but we wanted to be close enough to stand up close to the stage later.

Trent Hancock - Harper's Ferry, Boston 9.27.10

An upcoming singer-songwriter, I first met Trent earlier this year in NYC at a Jimmy Gnecco show. A friend of mine heard him singing along behind her and introduced me to him, and he in turn introduced me to his music. Unable to catch some of his shows in New York over the course of the last 6 or so months, I was excited when I found out he was playing at Harper's Ferry in Allston, opening for Jason Reeves and Brandon James. I'd been listening to his CD that he had given me back in February and I'd also been listening to his solo EP that released over the summer - but I was absolutely impressed with him live.

He opened with Me and You, a catchy track off the new EP, which is one of my favorites, and also played Caroline (from the old EP and which was a bit of a surprise), Sunflower (a song he wrote for his brother's wedding that is beautiful), Strong Hands (a song that's about being in a bad relationship and when you actually listen to the words is really touching), Forgiveness (a Patty Griffin cover), and one other song that is escaping me at the moment.

Jimmy Gnecco & Lukas Rossi - I'm a Monster, Nashville 9.22.10

Last night in Nashville, Lukas Rossi, who won Rockstar Supernova in 2006 joined Jimmy on stage at Mercy Lounge to sing I'm a Monster. To be honest, that's not a song of Jimmy's that I loved immediately -  it took some time to grow on me. But hearing Lukas join him and for them to sing it together was fabulous. It gave it an entirely new dimension, which is one thing I love about Jimmy's music - the more I listen to it, the more layers are uncovered. I'll be seeing Jimmy next Tuesday the 28th in Boston at the Hard Rock and next Saturday, October 2 at Don Hill's in New York City, so expect recaps with pictures and more than likely video from both of those. In the meantime, here's the video of I'm a Monster!






Thanks to John, who was in Nashville last night, for this!

Jimmy Gnecco - Paradise Rock Club, Boston 5.27.10

Last night was my second Jimmy concert - and it was a hometown show for me. Out of the 9 times I've seen him, I have only seen him in Boston-ish 3 times. I've traveled for the rest. Not that it matters, because I don't mind traveling, and he's always worth it. Anyway. I digress. I left my house early last night - knowing I would hit traffic, and hit traffic I did. I arrived at the venue around 7:30 (doors at 8), met up with Lisa for a drink at the bar, and killed time before the doors opened. Funny enough, I had ordered a drink and then gone to the ladies room, and promptly almost ran into Jimmy as he was coming out of the hallway where the bathrooms were. He didn't see me, and was kind of engrossed in something he was doing, so I didn't want to interrupt.

Anyway - we got right up front (I was pretty much sitting ON the stage) and Brian Wright opened the show. The sound was much better in Boston then in Philadelphia, and while I am not a huge country-folkish fan, Brian was really quite good. I enjoyed his music a lot, and he was funny too, interacting with the crowd. He played for a good 40 minutes or so, and the last song he totally jammed out with Marco and Eric from Greg Laswell's band. It also bears mentioning that Brian is Greg's band as well, but he's done some solo stuff on his own. I don't think I'd ever buy his album, but I definitely enjoyed it for what it was. He wrapped up around 9:40 or so, and we had about a 15 minute break while Brian broke down, and they set up for Jimmy.

Jimmy took the stage about 10, and opened with Here is the Light. That song has so much energy and I really love when he plays it acoustic - he just wails on the guitar and its awesome to watch. The entire set list was as follows: Here Is the Light •
Light On the Grave • Mystery • The Bells • Bring You Home • Gravity •  Darling • Ran Away To Tell The World • The Heart

USMC Silent Drill Platoon - Boston

Last week was Marine Week, and Boston was the host city this year. There were a number of activities going on around the city all week - and Marines from all over the country were here. Since my brother is in the service, his battalion was hosting so he was in town all week working, and I thought it would be nice for my mom and I to go in on the last day (Mother's Day) to see what was going on, attend the dedication of the Marine Barracks at the Navy Yard, and watch the Silent Drill Team perform.

If you've never seen the Silent Drill Team perform - its absolutely amazing. They drill without cadence (spoken commands) and the whole audience just falls silent when they walk in. It was windy as hell that day but not one of them wavered - and the Saturday prior, they were performing and it started to hail. They just stood there because none of them had been dismissed. When they were finished performing, we were able to go and talk to the Marines - we asked them how they get onto the team. It's basically invitation only. Its a huge honor to get asked to be in the silent drill platoon.

Anyway, I have some pictures of the drill team, plus a video.