The Sing Off Live!! (Again...) (March 9, 2014)

The last line of my first review of this tour read like this:

I still kind of want to go to Buffalo this weekend to see them again before the tour leaves this coast...

Well...although I was really just thinking "out loud" when writing that post, I couldn't get the though out of my head.  When I was lucky enough to find seats at this mainly sold out tour for a few nights later in Buffalo (I looked on Thursday I believe, and the show was Sunday, March 9) I jumped at the chance.  Turns out we got a couple of the last few seats available as it was sold out by show night.  

This time around I forced my husband (he's such a good sport) to indulge my crazy and come with me.  He'd watched the show with me and really liked it so I knew he'd like the concert...even if he wasn't 100% sold on having to see it. 

The drive really wasn't bad - which, incidentally is kind of a miracle in early March in upstate, NY.  Took us about 2 1/2 hours to get there and we made it in perfect time.  The venue, which we weren't sure about - being on the huge University of Buffalo campus, was easy to find and parking was easy and free.  Fantastic place for a show if you ever get the chance, actually.  I'd highly recommend it. 

When we got there, I started scoping out the place...as I wanted to be prepared for post-show autograph possibilities like with the first show. 

When I bought tickets, I'd been checking and kept finding row KK as my best option - which I was fine with as I'd seen the tour and didn't need to be right on top of the stage....I mean, I didn't NEED to be...even if I'd rather have been.  When I went to actually buy the tickets, somehow, 2 seats in row F had opened up...so I bought those...I mean, 5th row?  Sure.  Why not?  ;-) 

There were no opening groups this time around and the show started, again, with the groups, all clad in their varsity jackets doing an awesome group mash up.  Even having seen the show before and knowing what was coming didn't take anything away from the performance.  I laughed just as hard at the antics this time and sang along just as loud.  The entire show, again, was fantastic and all three groups amazed me with the fact that there are no instruments!  I mean you're singing along, and bopping your head, and it sounds just like a "regular" concert and then you wrap your head around the fact that there are NO instruments at all and it's amazing.  And then you are even more in awe of the talent of the groups. 

During Home Free's set, as Tim is twerking on Rob and Austin is promising not to rap anymore if Tim promises not to twerk, there is always someone from the audience who throws off the bit.  In Verona when we went, the guys were laughing with a woman in the front row to the point where Tim looked at Austin and said "you're still trying to pull off this bit??" and Austin replied "yeah, we can get it back!" and Tim responded "not with that lady in the front row, we can't..."  This time around was no different, Tim picked on the audience members that wanted Austin to keep rapping - telling them they needed to get out more, Rob started laughing as the audience shouted to Tim and Austin during their "deal," and Tim actually gave in and said "nah...you can rap" instead of agreeing to stop twerking - in response to the audience member who yelled that it was hot.  It was hilarious - and you can see video of the whole shenanigan - as recorded by my husband, here: 

As you can see, Adam Rupp (vocal percussionist) is now back with the group for the remainder of the tour - so we got to see his guilty pleasure, rather than HeatBox's.  Good changeup and holy crap, how he learned all the words to Gangnam Style (or he just made them up....) I'm not sure! 

My husband also got some video of VoicePlay and their "Road Trip" medley - a hilarious bit that they do as well: 

Thanks, Dear, for the videos :) 

A little glimpse of the view from our seats with a couple of my favorite photos:

As with the first show, they closed the show with a special encore performance of Hallelujah - complete a capella (as was the rest of the show) and without their mics.  Just voices.  The entire theater was dead silent, and totally enraptured by the performance.  I definitely saw people wiping their eyes.  Thank goodness for the softer sound - my camera captured the moment pretty damn well:

Even without the other groups (the openers, and the group from Rochester, that were at Verona), the show still lasted for close to 2 hours.  When it was over, I was almost instantly sad that it was done, but unfortunately, they cannot just all sing to me all night every night.  Although that doesn't mean I have to stop listening to Home Free and VoicePlay's albums or the other songs I've purchased from the show and Filharmoic's cover of Happy by Pharell.  Cause I can't stop doing that - I really just can't make myself turn them off.

After the show, as I had hoped, the guys (and Emoni) were again signing autographs for anyone who wanted to stay.  We waited around for a few, unsure of exactly where to be in the large atrium/lobby, and then got in line.  This is where some of my absolute favorite moments of the night happened.  Guessing (from posts from the groups, etc.) that they were going to do autographs after all the shows, I planned ahead this time - memories of searching for paper in Kate's purse fresh on my mind from the last time - even if that is a great story to share after the fact.  My first thought was to grab a poster from the merch. stand and have them sign that.  Unfortunately, I don't have a ton of poster-sized wall space left in my office, so I wasn't sure it would get the place of honor I'd like to give it.  Posters can be large and clumsy.  And that was when inspiration hit!  Pictures! 

I went to the local drug store and printed out 8x10s of each group - chose a favorite shot of each one that I had taken from our Verona show.  In fact, I printed 2 of each 8x10 - because I'm an awesome friend, and even though she couldn't come, I was gonna give them to Kate, damnit.  I brought the pictures with me, deciding to have them sign pictures of themselves - it would be something different and as I already had a copy of the CD, I didn't really need a second or anything like that.  

While my husband ran to the bathroom as I was waiting in the line, I struck up a conversation with some lovely ladies behind me - as I always seem to do - and they were asking me about the pictures and were

interested that I'd decided to go more than once to the tour.  They were both freaking out about getting to meet the groups and I was telling them how nice everyone was the last time we'd seen them and all that good stuff.  

This time, Home Free was up first in the autograph line, so I stepped up and explained that the pictures were from Verona and that I'd like them to sign them (my hubby had Kate's copies since we were allowed 1 item per person for an autograph).  I spoke to Chris and Rob first and they were inspecting the pictures and poking fun at themselves.  I think Rob told me "I can see myself thinking here..." before he signed it.  I then had to apologize to Adam because he wasn't in the picture - but he understood and signed on HeatBox to be funny.  I congratulated him on his daughter and told him I was glad he was back with the group and I'd gotten to see him too by coming again.  When I got to Tim and Austin, I explained the pictures again - as they were all busy talking to others as we moved down the line.  I also had a little 4x6 that I printed, but couldn't remember what I'd printed it for, so I had written a little note on the back thanking them for a great show and gave it to Tim and Austin - it was of the group doing their Guilty Pleasures in Verona.  Tim thanked me and put it in his coat.  Austin was so surprised to see the picture of them he stopped said "hold up a minute - this is so cool..." and then took out his phone and took a picture, of my picture.  There is a picture of my picture on Austin's phone!  Ahh!  I apologize, I can't stop geeking out about all this.

VoicePlay was up next - and they were so interested, they asked if they could see the pictures I had of the other groups too - not sure if they were comparing or what, but they kept asking me if I'd really gone to 2 different shows.  It was great.  They all signed by themselves in the picture and we moved on down the line. 

The Filharmoic got the same story about where the pictures were from and were asking me how far they were currently from Verona (as they're from California and really have no idea where some of these places are that they're playing).  I explained how far it was for us each time (about an hour to Verona in one direction, and about 2 1/2 to Buffalo, other way) and they were all shocked that we'd driven that far.  Then, of course, my husband had to stop and chat with the one member of Filharmoic who was wearing a Power Rangers t-shirt and had a Nintendo controller cover for his phone.  Beacuse...well...geeks of the world, unite! 

Looking back, I kind of wish I had printed a smaller group shot for each one of the groups, but cest la vie.  It is what it is.  And it was fun to see their excitement of seeing their own photos. 

The signed pictures...

Now framed and hanging in my office :) 

Thanks again to everyone involved in this for a fantastic show...it was amazing and I'd go 10 more times if I could! 

Coming up next:  Goo Goo Dolls - Acoustic :) ...and for my birthday week even!!

Bobby Long at WAMC's The Linda - Albany, NY (February 21, 2014)

If you've never heard of Bobby Long (and you enjoy a fantastic, British, singer-songwriter with an acoustic guitar), go check out some of his stuff on YouTube or last.fm

There, now that you've done that (and one of the YouTube results was a video from the concert I'm going to talk about - so you've even gotten to see almost exactly what I saw) let's get on with things.

When I saw Bobby - who now makes his home in NYC, but is originally from outside of Manchester, England - was going to be playing upstate in Albany, I knew I had to be there.  I don't get the chance to travel to the city THAT much, so the couple hour drive to Albany was much easier to make happen on a rainy Friday evening in February.  Not to mention that it was only $17 for a ticket, rather than frequently higher NYC show prices.

I first discovered Bobby's music a couple of years ago and this was my first easy opportunity to see him live and in person - my friend Serenity gladly accompanied me, as she is also a fan, but had seen him a few times in NYC in the past.

Somewhat unsure of the venue or what kind of seating/viewing situation we'd be in, I chose to consult with a friend, originally from Albany, who told me he was pretty sure that the venue was an old bank and would be small - maybe 60 seats or so - and intimate.

He wasn't wrong.  Behind the stage (several 2 or so foot high risers placed toegther) was the bank's original steel gate which used to lock in the Safe Deposit box room.  Much of the inside remained "bank-ish" but the main floor was cleared of cubicles and teller windows and now featured rows of chairs for the general admission show.  Once inside, we could choose whatever seats we wanted...and we happened to spy a couple of empty seats in the front row - so of course, we took those.

We got situated and got our cameras ready as we wanted to get some good memories from the show.  The opener, Tor and the Fjords (although it was just one guy, so I'm not sure who "the Fjords" were...) performed several songs in that folk-y, acoustic, singer-songwriter vein.  He was quite good and i enjoyed the stories he told to go along with the songs.  It was also nice that he didn't take himself too seriously.  He was in the midst of starting one song, for example, when he felt that his guitar wasn't tuned quite right, so he stopped, fixed it, remembered that it actually HAD been right, and went back and fixed it again before continuing.  He poked fun at himself the whole time, making it a fun and lighthearted (rather than an "oh crap, I'm on stage and just messed up, and now I'm so nervous I don't know what to do) moment.  It really showed his comfort with performing, even if his hands did look a little shaky up on the stage.  I hadn't heard of this artist before that night, but I thoroughly enjoyed his set.

Bobby appeared next in rolled up jeans, a white tee, maroon cardigan and a black beanie.  He was also rockin' a fairly scruffy beard, which oddly worked on him.  He arrived on stage with a water bottle, a beer (Magic Hat #9 if I remember correctly...) and his guitar.   Serenity leaned over to me when she saw the beer and said - he's particularly chatty and funny when he's drinking...so here we go!  I laughed and the show started.  He played many of his more well known and popular songs among fans, telling stories - that may or may not have been true about where the songs came from.  The story about his father asking him to write a song about a dead prostitute, was one I found particularly funny.

The acoustic set was fantastic and when he decided to perform one song sans microphone at all and he unplugged his guitar and just played even more simply it was beautiful.  Many selections were from Wishbone - his more recent album from February of 2013, but there were selections from A Winter's Tale and other releases as well.

Throughout the show, Bobby was talkative yet shy - something I wasn't sure someone could accomplish so fluidly.  His self-deprecating humor had the crowd of about 60 laughing along with him, while also watching him keep his gaze lowered throughout most of the show.  Every song was ended with "Thank you very much, Ladies and Gentlemen."  He was sweet and charming and had the attention of every single person in the venue.

One of the things I truly enjoy about small, intimate venues like this - with perhaps lesser-known artists, is the accessibility.  Bobby informed the crowd that he had some CD's and "children's t-shirts..." available for purchase after the show and that he'd be happy to sign things and meet people.  We got into line fairly quickly - maybe 5-6 people back - and had to wait quite a while as Bobby took time with each person and group to really chat with them, ask them questions, answer theirs, and personally sign items.  When we got up there, I purchased 2 older albums - Summer Dangerous Tour 2009 and Dirty Pond Songs - that I somehow didn't have and chatted with him for a few minutes.  He signed both CD's TO my name and message - one reading Best Wishes and one reading Thanks for me and then was kind enough to also pose for a picture with me.  You'll have to excuse the fact that I look like hell...but it was a great experience even if I look terrible in this picture.

(Photo: Courtesy of Serenity K.)

The show was fantastic, we got some amazing pictures of his performance, and a great story to tell about meeting him afterwards.  He was super sweet to everyone and really performed his heart out.  Constantly signing with so much passion that his eyes were often closed and his face strained with the emotions of the songs.  I twas incredible to get to be so close and to finally get to see this artist up close and personal - and live - after being a fan for a long time. 

Tor and the Fjords 

This is one of my favorite pictures that I took...

I don't even care that this is somewhat out of focus...I feel like it adds something...

Next up:  The Sing Off (Again!)

The Sing Off Live! (February 19, 2014)

If you've not heard of The Sing Off (on NBC) it's both somewhat understandable and also a huge shame.  It's like American Idol/The Voice/X-Factor/whatnot...for a capella groups.  A competition show that just finished its 4th season...and you probably didn't even know it had been on at all - let alone for 4 seasons.  Part of the reason, I think, is that it's a fast moving show - it takes place over just a couple of weeks, airing multiple nights a week - and every night a group goes home so it takes much less time to air than many of the performance night/elimination night style formats that are out there.  It's been missed by a lot of people, but really, it's fantastic.  Judges (this year in particular) include Ben Folds, Jewel, and Shawn Stockman (from Boys II Men).  Ben is always using big words and talking about musical abilities that really only a few people can understand, Shawn gets so into the performances that he's singing along, and Jewel loves everyone.  It's great.  Also, Nick Lachey is the host - and he's totally not bad to look at during the show.

At any rate, I've watched at least bits and pieces of all four seasons, but watched season four religiously.  The groups on the show were fantastic and some of the new twists this season (like the Ultimate Sign Off - which pitted the bottom 2 teams against each other with the same song each show) made it really entertaining and fun.  So, when my friend, who had also been watching religiously, said to me back in December - "Hey!  The Sing Off tour is coming to Turning Stone!  Will you go with me?"  I jumped at the chance.  We weren't sure just which groups would be along for the ride, but I'd enjoyed so much of the show, I wasn't really worried.

Season 4 winners, Home Free, along with The Filharmonic and VoicePlay, two other groups from the top 5 were the groups we were going to get to see.  We were really excited to see Home Free as they were our favorite group on the show and also hopeful to see, perhaps, some of our favorite show performances from the other groups as well.

To say that this was one of my favorite concerts of all time is an understatement.  Those of you reading, by now, probably know that I've been to a number of concerts (in fact, I believe this show was my 74th) and this defintiely ranks in the top 5.

Along with the groups from the show - a couple of local college a capella groups opened things up, which was cool to see.  Their sound, though less developed than the more seasoned groups on the show, were really quite good and got the crowd engaged and ready.

After a fun varsity-jacket clad group performance, the show was broken down into each individual group's performance.

The Filharomic performed first and performed our favorite pieces from the show.  They were energetic and sounded fantastic.  A self-proclaimed Boy Band, I love their sound...as I have such a soft spot for the boy band phenomenon.

VoicePlay performed next, with Emoni - of Ten from the show - as well as alone doing a bit of their vocal theater.  They were hilarious and also sounded fantastic.  Emoni was a great addition to the songs she joined them for.  I greatly enjoyed their set - even though, for me, during the show they were less memorable than either Home Free or Filharmonic. After their performance at the concert, I was an instant fan.

Another college group - the Yellowjackets from Rochester, NY - performed next and they were also quite good - getting the audience to sing along with their version of 500 miles and really pumping everyone up for the 'headliners.'

When Home Free hit the stage - people went crazy. They performed for about 45 minutes - incorporating both other groups from the show into their own "Ultimate Sing Off"s.  Throughout their performances were interspersed some amazing comedy bits too - picking on Bass, Tim, for hitting tenor notes in his Josh Turner cover of Your Man, and picking on Austin for attempting to rap.  There was even a bit of twerking that caused Rob to run scared from the stage...and from Tim - the one who was twerking.  They incorporated some "dirty pleasure" songs like Justin Bieber and even the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song.  It was fantastic.  I found myself laughing, singing along, and screaming and clapping at the end of each song.  In fact, I think I was annoying the hell out of the guy in front of me...but, I mean really, we're at at concert - of course I'm going to yell and clap!  (Note:  Vocal percussionist from Home Free - Adam Rupp, was not with the group for this tour as his wife had just given birth - according to their announcement at the concert and he was home with her - so HeatBox was touring with them as their percussionist).

They ended with a couple of group numbers to wrap things up. It was fun to see the groups play off each other.

Overall the concert was about 2 hours long and really, the music didn't stop at all between all the groups.  As we were the first stop, on the first ever Sing Off Tour (they hadn't toured specifically for the other seasons - although season 3 winners, Pentatonix have been touring on their own), we weren't quite sure what to expect, but what I can say is that we were definitely not disappointed.  Humor, fantastic music, and great entertainment.  I seriously didn't even notice that is was a capella music, meaning that I didn't miss "instruments" AT ALL...the vocal percussionists from all the groups were fantastic and really round out the sound of the lyrical vocals.

When VoicePlay had been up on stage performing, they informed the crowd that they'd be "outside" after the show to say hi to everyone.  Having been to Turning Stone previously, I knew where they usually do post-show "meet and greets" like that in relation to the Showroom, so Kate and I made our way over to the hallway beside the theater to wait.  We were a couple of the first to be milling about and ended up toward the front of the group of audience members who were waiting.  VoicePlay came out and started to get set up behind some ropes that the casino employees had set up.  We were very excited to meet them, and then the doors opened again and Filharmoic came out too.  They hadn't mentioned being there after the show so it was slightly unexpected - and because of that, we dared to hope that Home Free would also be joining their tour mates.  As Kate searched her purse for something we could use for autographs (all those signatures just wouldn't fit on our ticket stubs...), I saw the door open again and watched as Home Free also filed out to meet their fans.  I slapped Kate's arm to get her attention so that she would know she'd get to meet her favorite - Tim.  We were pumped.

We got to chat with VoicePlay - who were apparently amazed when I told them that this was one of my favorite concerts and that I'd been to so many and that it ranked so highly.  They all signed our slips of paper (thank goodness Kate had a pad of paper in her purse) and thanked us profusely for coming.

The Filharmoic are adorable and were seemingly really excited people had come to see them.  They graciously signed our papers as well and we chatted with them for a few as well.  They are posting a tour diary on their Facebook page - and my friend Kate and I can be seen around 45seconds in their Tour Diary 507-511 package.  That's me in the pink vest, waving like an idiot.

We also got to meet Home Free and get all of their autographs as well.  They thanked everyone very graciously and asked how we liked the show.  I, like the idiot that I am, told Rob that we had been doing the gopher dance from Caddyshack (due to their performance of "I'm Alright" from the movie with Filharmonic) in the car all week.  He laughed at me.  I still can't believe I said that.  But oh, well...it was memorable, I suppose, right?

They were all super nice and seemed so thankful that we had a great first night of the tour - enjoying all the hard work that they'd put into their preparation.

All in all, it was a fantastic night and I would totally see the tour over and over.  I've been listening to Home Free's album on repeat since that week and haven't been able to stop.  It's so good - if you're at all interested in a capella music or this group, definitely check it out.  Some great covers as well as some original songs written and arranged by the band.  I still kind of want to go to Buffalo this weekend to see them again before the tour leaves this coast...