I guess being only two weeks late with this review may be a step up from some of the other things I’ve been postponing. But it was a great experience.
I’d heard about this concert since early January (or was it late December?) so I went and purchased my ticket well over a month in advance. Just the one, since the people I asked at the time fidgeted enough before answering.
Then, about a week before, I asked two of the girls I used to work with – Oana was already going and Florina came for my sake – and my parents, who reluctantly accepted (again for my sake), so I ended up making two more trips to the store to get tickets, and hoping that the salespeople wouldn’t start to recognize me and get annoyed at my persistence.
Those fears were soon alleviated, however, when I got the same guy selling me the tickets and making the same “huh? tickets for who?” face every time.
Since the show was general admission we arrived at The Silver Church Club about an hour beforehand – the venue is very intimate; I’d say there were maybe a little less than 1000 people there and the place was already packed. If there is one thing to bitch about before moving on to the good stuff (which seems to be my M.O. these days), that would be smoking. I’m a non-smoker whose lot seems to always be to go to some place with inadequate ventilation and plenty of cigarette-puffers… and us Romanians seem to love our inhaled nicotine. (Hmmm, maybe I should start inviting or visiting people more…)
After checking our coats at the door, we spent the remaining 40 minutes inching towards the stage – and ended up at a not-too-shabby 4-5 meters from the stage… good thing, too, because there was virtually no audience gap and the stage wasn’t even elevated. It was Valentine’s Day (which we seem to have speedily adopted, in detriment of our similar traditional Dragobete on Feb. 24th) so there were a bunch of heart-shaped balloons that we played with to pass the time.
The stage was very small, with not much room to move even for Vonda and her three-piece band… which was OK, seeing that her set list contained fewer up-tempo songs, and most of the time the star herself was to be found behind her piano. That’s not to say there wasn’t any stage movement – there was, and for a few tracks Vonda picked up a tambourine and went center-stage.
The show itself was perhaps what KC’s shows could be some distant day, when she’s toned it down a notch… (yeah, like that’s ever gonna happen!) What I mean by that is, it was just focused on the music – guitar, bass, drums, piano, and of course Vonda’s heartfelt vocals – nicely supported by a pretty but not overpowering light show. Did I mention I love this kind of artists?
9 P.M. – Vonda takes the stage, opening with the title track of her latest album – From The Sun. Instant response from Oana and Flo - “Niiiice! What’s this track called?” (Come to think of it, Oana kept asking me that for the first 4-5 songs, hehe.)
Now if there’s one thing my attending concerts abroad taught me, it’s that artists love feedback. It energizes them, relaxes them, makes them connect with - and offer more to – their audience. This has made me change my concert-going attitude – while I still try to be respectful and not block other people’s view or step on their toes, I do admit to liking to jump around, sing along (when not recording video) and yelling at the people on stage… it’s the best way of communicating, usually. 
As a result, you may hear me I’m gonna bust your eardrums responding to Vonda’s question about halfway through the video below.
The “conversation” went down like this:
Vonda: The last time we were here we played some songs from my last album, called From the Sun… Do you know From The Sun?
Audience Me: YEAHHHH!!!
*crickets followed by general laughter*
Vonda: *points at me* You do! Thank you!
*more laughter*
Me: I got it!!!
Vonda: Please make copies for the rest of the people in here.
I would honestly hope more people had/have since bought the album.
After the first three tracks from the last album – From The Sun, Roll In The Dirt, Another January – it was time to go for some Ally McBeal soundtrack stuff. Like The Wildest Times Of The World.
I suppose I should be grateful that my camera mic is crappy and can only handle ballads – otherwise I would have only watched the show through the lens (I have this problem with live gigs, I can’t help snapping away). As it is, I did get to enjoy some of the faster-paced tracks that followed, like a cover of The Staple Singers’ Respect Yourself, and Vonda’s own Downtown (Dirtytown).
We slowed down a bit again, with Like A Hemisphere… After it we had a little language lesson. She knew how to thank us with “merci” but asked what the proper thank you would be… Well with 15 people yelling ”MULTUMESC!” from all over the place, no wonder she got lost in translation. The end result – a close-but-not-quite-there “multumesse”.
Then we got a real, beyond-the-language connection during Maryland, as we sang along on the la-las and the performers loved it. You can briefly see the bass player go back and forth on the stage – he borrowed someone’s camera and filmed us from the stage. (I wouldn’t presume to brag, but we did sound pretty good, better than what you can hear in the video.)
One more current-album ballad, I Know Better, and then we picked up the pace, with a soulful and funky cover of Aretha’s Every Natural Thing. Vonda was dancing along on her piano, playing standing up – not as frantically as Jerry Lee Lewis, but definitely sexier.
The fun continued with Sweet Inspiration…
And finally Vonda came to the center stage, accompanied by an acoustic guitar, for I Only Wanna Be With You… sing-along time! (that’s not me you’re hearing, though)
Back to the piano for Rain Or Shine…
We got introduced to the band.
Mr. James Ralston on guitar… formerly employed by one Miss Tina Turner!
On the drums, Mr. Michael Urbano, who played with the likes of Smash Mouth and Sheryl Crow!
And, having played bass for the likes of Rodney Crowell, Johnny Cash (again you can hear me being the country fan in the venue) and THE BOSS himself… Mr. Jim Hanson!
Seriously, an A+ band.
And then it was time to rock out again, to Someday We’ll Be Together…
And full-on McBeal mode, with Searchin’ My Soul.
They left the stage and left us clapping. So naturally, the encore followed, full of energy, with Something About You. Then Vonda took the center stage again for Tell Him…
More Ally McBeal stuff, with Hooked On A Feeling.
And then they said goodbye again. So we started clapping again, making more noise… Some people were ready to pack up and go home, but I for one persisted – and it payed off! They returned for the second encore.
We got our groove on and danced to Aretha’s Chain Of Fools, with Vonda on the tambourine.
Then the show closer – You Belong To Me – was a romantic one, because of Valentine’s Day… even though Vonda said she doesn’t really celebrate it herself… I hear ya, ma’am. I didn’t care for it even when I had someone to celebrate with.
I’m no cynic, though, I love this beautifully haunting song.
Thank you, Vonda Shepard, for a fun and heart-warming show. Come back soon… ’cause I don’t know if I can make it to the States this year.
P.S. So why the detailed show description, you ask? (If you didn’t ask, I’ll tell you anyway.)
Two reasons:
1. It was a really good show (I was thanked by everyone I invited along), and I wanted to try this chronicling method;
2. I have Vonda’s set list right here. That’s the other thing I learned on the road – if you can’t get the souvenirs straight from the band (or there’s no merch stand, like in this case), your best bet is to nicely ask the roadies packing up after the show. They are always very cool and obliging people.
I really hope there are more entries like this one your blog; we need to post the artists out there.