[Review, cont'd:]
Oh, a pretty wallpaper blend!:
And a cute pic of Rachael:
Ok, back to the review:
What If I Leave?~ Rachael told us this was a new song (not yet recorded). I remember liking the lyrics and thinking the song was very good.
Ok, somewhere in the first half of the show Rachael talked about the message board forum linked to her site and how she checks in to read it. She's blown away by the fan following and was surprised to read that even kids like her music. LOL, she explained the inspiration of the song "Worn Me Down" and said it's probably not something kids should listen to if they knew what it meant. I posted more about the specific conversation (in reference to another fan's comment) on the message board
HERE if you want to read it.
You can also read some other quick comments I posted
HERE.
Rachael told lots of little stories throughout the night. I wish I could remember them all....
I do recall that at one point someone yelled out "Even So!", requesting the song as she was about to begin a song at the piano. She stopped tinkling the keys and looked up at the guy and said "That's a song about cheaters... Are you a cheater?!" LOL She's funny without even trying, really. She then said "I learned my lesson long ago...
If thou shall cheat, thou shall get cheated on!" She also talked about how she liked to write songs about "the end"... breakups and emotional turmoil and what-not. LOL, so like every 3rd song she'd introduce she would say "here's another one about 'THE END'". Amazingly, the theme never got old because her songs are so good.
She told another story about how touring with Tom and gang has been interesting because they are British boys... and their lingo is different. She explained how just the few days before they'd been in San Francisco for a show. In their off-time they went to some charity event at a hotel there... somehow she and her band and Tom and his band all managed to get in. The charity event involved local celebrities, news people, etc. and they were outside around the big hotel pool... people could pay money to get a celebrity tossed in the pool, the money going to the charity. LOL, this is what Californians view as entertainment. Anyway, Rachael said it was priceless because there were these debutant-type pageant girls all dressed up with perfect hair and makeup being tossed into the pool. She and the guys were all watching and she said to them something about how cool it would be to be a "tosser". LMAO. She said Tom fell over laughing because "tosser" has a very different, definite meaning to him... She said "you know, to them it means like 'wanker', like, it's bad! So if you're ever in the UK, know what 'tosser' means before you say it!". Haha, we were all cracking up....
Be Be Your Love ~ Oh, gosh this song was sooo good live. It's the first song on her album, and from the very first beat everyone in the audience knew what it was and we all cheered. Rachael went back on piano for this. Lots going on in this song... strings and drums and bass and guitar all playing so strongly, yet beautifully. For some reason, this song really left an impression on me. There's a quiet moment in the song where everything pauses and a french horn comes in with just Rachael's voice for a couple lines singing "Please sir, don't you walk away, don't you walk away...", but they didn't have the horn for the show... Rachael just played that part on the piano.
I posted this elsewhere about that moment in the song:
....when I heard Be Be Your Love live ... at the moment where she sang "Please sir, don't you walk away" everyone in her band paused for the break in the music and looked over to Rachael to sing/play that part solo for a few seconds... I don't know how to explain it, the way all their heads, necks, shoulders and arms looked...
like when you're a kid and you play with one of those large parachutes...everyone stand in a circle lifts it up, then lets it fall, the air beneath it suspending it for a graceful, floaty pause as it comes down.
They looked like that.
Necks, arms, and faces of the violin-, cello-, and guitar-players were floating for about a second and a half while they all stopped and turned to focused on the woman responsible for bringing them there....and I realized I was floating, too, watching them, and listening to Rachael..
It was a groovy moment, man. LOL
1963~ Speaking of "groovy"...
This was a VERY pleasant surprise. Rachael said she doesn't normally do this one live, but there where special people in the audience (from what I read on the forum at the time, I think she was referring to her parents) who liked the song and would appreciate hearing it. She classified this as "the only happy song on the album." It's an upbeat, sweet love song that had the audience dancing. She smiled almost throughout the entire song, and of course everyone was smiling back.
Quiet~ This is definitely another "The End" song... it's the 'final' track (before the hidden track at tthe end, 'Ode To') on her album. Very pretty with Rachael doing her thing on piano. Her voice was just amazing.
I could hear soft voices in the audience singing along:
I don't expect anything... I don't expect anyyyyything...Worn Me Down ~ LOL, if you followed my links above you'll know why she dedicated this song to "all the 4-year olds out there."
Rachael was dancing all over the stage for this, shakin' that tamborine.... the girl can work it! Tom and a member of his band came out to help on guitar and keyboards, too. It was VERY high-energy. Since this is her 'hit' song, the audience was all singing along to every word. The best part was in the middle when Rachael made us all sing the few chorus lines basically a cappella (while she just shook the tamborine a bit, but the rest of the band ceased playing) then they all kicked it back in to high-gear for a strong finish with the music. It was SO fun!
Woman ~ Oh, a very intense song. This is one of her miscellaneous songs that's not on her album or EP but needs to be on something recorded soon!
She explained how this song was inspired by a female friend who's a teacher in Australia. She was tired of getting hurt by men... Rachael said it's kind of about what it feels like when you've had enough and you consider 'going to the other side'. LOL It got kind of funny because she said something like "you know, teachers have to be all prim and proper during the day, so at night their wild side comes out... Me, I do THIS at night, so I basically just end my show and want to sleep all day."
The last line of the song is a repeated "
That's the way it goes..." It was SO so pretty the way she sang that.
Sunday Afternoon~ Ohhh, this was a treat. I'd been obsessed with watching a live mtv video performance of this song that just featured Rachael and guitar, but they way it's done with a full band is just AMAZING! Once again, she had Tom McRae and his band member helping out for the song. It's a great closer.... it's very deep and melancholy (see the lyrics
here) with lovely climax toward the end and a soft finish. This is my official favorite non-album track right now. I LOVED hearing this live.
Everyone left the stage and and then Rachael came back out to a darkened stage with a spotlight on the piano... the crowd cheered, of course....
Reason Why ~ Rachael played this beautifully and her voice still sounded so great after singing for 2 hours. This is a beautiful song and one my favorites from the Happenstance album. I was going to be really sad if she DIDN'T play it. LOL So it was the perfect encore song.
The only "bad" thing was that about 3/4 of the way through it some girl in the audience started laughing out loud.. a totally distracting giggle, considering the room was practically silent except for Racheal's keyboard and her voice up til then... poor Rachael tried not to let it affect her, but she stopped playing a few seconds and said "What's so funny?... Gosh!" ... but then she finished the song like a professional and thanked us all for coming and that was that.
A great performance.
After the show Sean and I stood in line to meet her and get our cd signed. She was very sweet and bubbly and surprisingly composed for having just put on a show like that then greeting over 100 fans lined up. When it was our turn, I told her it was my birthday so that's why she signed my cd like she did... she also gave me a high-5 because she's a Libra, too.
Sean and I said how OUR kids, who are 5 and 10, also like her music... Rachael looked at me and said "You do NOT have a 10-year-old! OMG, you're my hero!". LOL, I told her she made night.
Actually, my night was made SO MANY times in so many wonderful ways.
Thanks again, Sean.
And, once again, if you're inspired to check out Rachael's music (PLEASE BE INSPIRED!) you can go to her site at:
www.rachaelyamagata.com/Also, Denise, a Rachael fan, runs an excellent site with lots of audio and video mp3s at:
www.thereasonwhy.org/Below there's a link to fan pics from Denise's site. They're from Rachael's 10-25 show in Toronto (I couldn't find any online ones from our show, but this is only 5 days later and it looked pretty much just like this, lol):
www.thereasonwhy.org/pictures/torontooctober25thpicturepage.htm
...maybe I'll get on soulseek and see what I can find
: reason why...duh lol
and I'm getting to listen to Rachael whom I am developing a fondness for. ;D
