Sometimes ... When I look in your eyes ... I can see your soul. -- James

Amazing concert. It's a little after 1am.

First ... special shout-outs to everyone who made this possible. Heather: for watching Lubbock for two hours when I promised you it would only be one. Kevin: for feeding our son and putting him to bed all on your own. Sean!: for driving us to and from the train station. Mom: who doesn't know it yet, but for feeding Lubbock breakfast while I try to sleep for an extra hour in the morning ... you are sleeping on my couch after all. Lauren: for seeing that James was in town and being such a fun date. And to the four people we asked for directions in Chicago. Thank you!

Second ... while I enjoyed the concert, I do have to get one thing off my chest before I can go any further. I'm so sick of going to concerts and being bombarded with a musician's political stance. Especially when they're not from the US. I won't go so far to say I won't give you my money anymore, but if you're so interested in telling me how you feel about our unjust war ... hold a Q&A session after the concert so that I don't have to just listen to you sing some dumb song about towers falling and troops dying and how you just can't understand why it's happening. You're a musician and I get it ... you can write a song about whatever is on your mind, but I'm going to the concert to be entertained, not aggravated.

Third ... Amy MacDonald was the opening act. She was really great, too. I couldn't watch her perform, however, because her boobs were really bouncy and she was playing a guitar and the whole bouncing, dancing, strumming thing was too much to watch. She has a really strong voice and great emotion and energy in her lyrics. I'll have to download some of her stuff tomorrow and see if it is just as good non-live.

Lastly ... Amazing concert. I'm a little confused, though. They have an album prior to Laid and he (singer, Tim Booth) kept referring to Laid as his first album. Maybe he just meant his first one to 'hit it big.' They sang some stuff from the newest album and I hadn't heard it yet, but it's mostly pretty good stuff (except for the previous ranted about song, which is the title song). He did the songs you'd expect, so there were no disappointments there. His dancing was a cross between MC Hammer, Kermit the Frog (or maybe a Fraggle), and the dude from R.E.M. The trumpet player was wearing a long red dress, Tevas, and sunglasses. He seemed pretty comfortable. The violin/guitar/drum backup/tambourine player was a little all over the place. He had no understanding of personal space. He'd play the violin and walk around the stage and get about 8 inches from another guy and just stare at him. It was kind of weird. But, the song selection was great, the sound quality in the Vic Theatre was perfect since it was a pretty small venue. The light effects were good because they didn't distract too much from the music. When it came time for the finale, the singer came out on one of the side balconies (about 20 feet from where we were) and sang from there. It was nice to have him that close and be able to feed off his energy. The finale closer was Sometimes. The audience sang along and when it came to the line (see the title of this entry) it repeated to the point that I think he regretted writing the line. Mostly, I think we just didn't want it to be over. But it was.

And I'm tired, so I'm going to crawl into bed with Kevin and try not to wake him up since he has to go work hard tomorrow. What a guy! Thanks again, Kevin.