The Concert Hall
New York City, NY
Friday, October 9, 2009
Section Left Balcony, Row Q, Seat 36
I'm on the mailing lists for a number of concert promoters around the country. I usually ignore the e-mails. But on August 26, I got an e-mail from a Philly-area promoter with the subject line "Renaissance 2009 at the Keswick presale". Nah, it can't be my Renaissance. Can it? I opened the e-mail and saw the Renaissance logo. What a surprise!
This was wonderful news for two reasons. I've been a fan of Renaissance for fifteen years. My friend Scott raved about this band, and I bought the Live at Carnegie Hall LP at the Roosevelt Mall flea market one Sunday. I'd seen singer Annie Haslam in concert many times, but never the band itself. They broke up long before I discovered them. They did some reunion shows in England and Japan a while back, but I didn't go. I assumed they would make it to the states, and missing those shows is one of my big concert regrets. The other reason I was so happy is that I hadn't made it home to Philly yet that year, and this would be my excuse to visit my hometown.
Roy is also a big fan, but he got to see Renaissance at least five times. Annie played a role in our relationship, back when we first started dating. Our first trip together was to a show Annie did at Summerfest in Logan, Utah. Back during our long distance relationship, we planned trips around concerts, and quite a few of them were to see Annie. Annie and I had a mutual friend, who would pass on news. At one point talking to her after a show, she asked when we were going to get married!
Tickets went on sale before we knew much information, like even who was taking part in this reunion. We found out there'd be a show in New York on a Friday, and then the show in the Philly suburbs on Sunday. Only two members of Renaissance would be in this lineup, Annie and guitarist Michael Dunford. But another of my favorite musicians would be joining them: Tom Brislin, the keyboard player who played with Yes on the YesSymphonic tour. The Philly part of the trip kept getting shorter; we decided to spend Saturday night in New York, with my best friend Angela joining us that night.
We flew out to New York on Thursday night. We were staying in Newark, in a hotel right by the train station. (I breezily told Angela to stay with us Saturday night, not realizing that a hotel room for the three of us would be out of my price range in Manhattan.) It didn't seem too different than the old days of going to a show and taking the train afterward to Long Island to stay with my aunt or a friend.
Roy hadn't finished a project at work, so he had to bring along his work laptop. He worked long after I fell asleep. The next morning, I woke up early and was eager to get to Manhattan. Roy left a note saying how late he planned to sleep, and said I should have breakfast without him. I was up four hours before him, so I did one better: I took the train up to New York by myself. I figured Roy wouldn't mind. The whole reason we flew in the night before was to have more time in the city. That morning in Manhattan was one of my favorite times of the trip. It wasn't too crowded. I walked from Penn Station to 5th Avenue, all the way to Central Park, hitting a few shops along the way. We met back up at Penn Station in time for lunch.
We took a cab to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex museum in SoHo. This happened to be John Lennon's birthday, and the museum had free admission to celebrate. Roy in particular liked the museum. There were exhibits on the history of rock music, New York City's musical heritage, and a large gallery devoted to Lennon. (No mention of Alan White there, unfortunately.)
Roy and I walked from SoHo to Greenwich Village and Washington Square to Gramercy Park. My friend Dawn was in town for another show that night. We hoped to meet up for dinner, but she was running late, and we couldn't make it happen. I remembered a restaurant nearby from the last time I was in New York, near the Blender Theater on 23rd, so Roy and I ate there for dinner. We took a cab to the venue, located just off of Central Park in an Ethical Society building.
I try to get to concerts early, to make sure everything is okay and there's time to get settled and fix things before the show starts. This was a perfect example of it. We had third row seats, off to the side. I thought these would be good seats, until we found them. This was a very wide venue, and these seats were really far from the stage. Worse than that, the stage was a semi-circle, with all the instruments turned towards the center. Our view would be the back of the piano player, and he'd be blocking the rest of the band. I didn't come this far for a bad view. Roy and I spoke to the box office, and they were able to give us tickets in the balcony with a better view. The new seats were in the front row of the balcony, still off to the side, but with an unobstructed view. I actually really liked these seats, no one was around us, so it was like our own private space.
I didn't think the sound was all that great during the opening act. We thought it was like the sound was focused on the main floor. Jann Klose sang and played guitar, and it was pleasant, but nothing special. The day caught up with Roy, and he fell asleep during the opening set.
We were wide awake when Renaissance came on stage. Annie Haslam so impressed me. I feel like I've taken her talent for granted. I'd seen her solo shows a dozen times over the years. While they were always fun, they were laid-back and homey. It was easy to separate the singer at these shows, who I got to know over the years, from the legendary talent on the Renaissance albums. I got to see a different Annie Haslam live at this show, and she was incredible.
I was happy for the whole show, but especially for my favorite Renaissance songs Prologue and Running Hard. La la lalalalalala la! Their sound is so refreshing, with a lead acoustic guitar. I finally got to see Michael Dunford play live. Our friend Krista was touring with the band, helping them sell merchandise, and taking pictures. She found us in our new seats and sat with us for a song. Ashes Are Burning was another highlight, with Tom Brislin getting to play a solo.
I was hoping to talk to the band after the show. Annie does signings after her solo shows. Not too long after the show, she and Michael Dunford came out to the merchandise table to meet fans. Too bad Tom wasn't there, I wanted a chance to say hi to him too. I met Michael Dunford for the first time. I told him I'd been a fan for years, but this was my first time getting to see him. He asked my name, and signed my new CD of Live at Carnegie Hall and a live King Biscuit release.
I didn't get a chance to tell Annie how amazed I was at her performance. She said hi to me, and that she hadn't seen me in a while. I saw her at NEARfest a few years ago. (And to think, she told me then that she was done with singing live!) That is a long time, she said. She asked how we were doing, and that was it. I've known her for fifteen years and our conversation reflected it, but I wish I was able to express how tonight was different.
Roy talked to Annie and reminded her of the times we saw her back when we were dating. We've been married seven years now.
The first time I saw Annie in concert, she signed my Carnegie Hall LP. Getting the CD signed this time seemed to fit.
Some of the other band members were walking around the lobby, but still no sign of Tom Brislin. The security guard didn't like us standing around waiting, so we went outside. Even though we were seeing the band again on Sunday, we'd have to leave right after the show. This was our only opportunity. Do we stand outside and look like stalkers waiting for the band to leave? Or give up?
Thankfully, we didn't have to make that decision. Tom saw us and came out to chat. I told him, "You keep joining my favorite bands!" He was going to have a crazy couple of days. While the band had the next day off from performances, Tom was doing a solo set at a prog festival...in California. He'd fly out the next morning, play at CalProg, and then take a redeye back in Philly, to be in town for the Keswick Theater show on Sunday. Tom caught us up with Spiraling, his work with Francis Dunnery, and some other stuff. It was good to see him, and I'm glad we had time to have an actual conversation. Roy wanted to leave before it seemed like we were monopolizing his time too much, so we said our goodbyes (and see you in a couple days).
On the cab ride back to Penn Station, we passed Carnegie Hall, the home of the live album that turned me into a Renaissance fan in the first place. It was a good way to end the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment