Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Go See Sarah McLachlan
Thursday night Karina and I went to the Sarah McLachlan concert at the Royal Theatre. My one-word review is "fantastic!".
The support act was a singer named Butterfly Boucher. She was Australian, but has been overseas for something like seven years, because that's pretty much the only way she could get anyone to listen to her music. She'd been touring with Sarah McLachlan in the US, and had been invited to Australia as the Australian support act.
Butterfly Boucher was one of the most talkative people I've seen on stage (well, at a concert anyway), which made it a bit different. After hearing her music I was a bit surprised she had trouble getting airplay in Australia - there have been a few similar acts in the past year or so (Missy Higgins and Sarah Blasko both come to mind). While I wasn't blown away by her, a large portion of the crowd seemed to really like her, and seemed really keen to take her up on her offer to sign any CDs during the break.
At about 8:50, the lights in the theatre suddenly dropped. I could see people pouring back in from the lobby - it was like someone had kicked an ants nest in reverse. A couple of minutes later, the stage lights came on and the band (already in their positions) started playing. Building the Mystery was the first Sarah McLachlan song I ever heard, and is probably my favourite, and it made a fantastic opening. It was probably the coolest start of a concert I've seen - although I probably wouldn't have thought so if I'd been one of the people desperately trying to find my seat...
She played a selection of "her favourite songs" off the last three albums (Afterglow, Surfacing and Fumbling Towards Ecstasy), which in an hour and a half set, is about two thirds of all the songs. I was a little disappointed that she didn't play anything I hadn't heard before (covers or new stuff), but it was hard to be disappointed when what you're listening to is sounding so good.
Probably the best indicator of the quality of the concert was the fact that when we got home we put on Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, and spent all day Friday listening to whatever track the stereo decided we should hear.
So yeah, fantastic concert. But one thing people should remember - don't be so keen to beat the rush out of a concert. If the lights haven't come on yet, you'll probably end up missing some songs. And I'll laugh at you as you come running back in.
The support act was a singer named Butterfly Boucher. She was Australian, but has been overseas for something like seven years, because that's pretty much the only way she could get anyone to listen to her music. She'd been touring with Sarah McLachlan in the US, and had been invited to Australia as the Australian support act.
Butterfly Boucher was one of the most talkative people I've seen on stage (well, at a concert anyway), which made it a bit different. After hearing her music I was a bit surprised she had trouble getting airplay in Australia - there have been a few similar acts in the past year or so (Missy Higgins and Sarah Blasko both come to mind). While I wasn't blown away by her, a large portion of the crowd seemed to really like her, and seemed really keen to take her up on her offer to sign any CDs during the break.
At about 8:50, the lights in the theatre suddenly dropped. I could see people pouring back in from the lobby - it was like someone had kicked an ants nest in reverse. A couple of minutes later, the stage lights came on and the band (already in their positions) started playing. Building the Mystery was the first Sarah McLachlan song I ever heard, and is probably my favourite, and it made a fantastic opening. It was probably the coolest start of a concert I've seen - although I probably wouldn't have thought so if I'd been one of the people desperately trying to find my seat...
She played a selection of "her favourite songs" off the last three albums (Afterglow, Surfacing and Fumbling Towards Ecstasy), which in an hour and a half set, is about two thirds of all the songs. I was a little disappointed that she didn't play anything I hadn't heard before (covers or new stuff), but it was hard to be disappointed when what you're listening to is sounding so good.
Probably the best indicator of the quality of the concert was the fact that when we got home we put on Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, and spent all day Friday listening to whatever track the stereo decided we should hear.
So yeah, fantastic concert. But one thing people should remember - don't be so keen to beat the rush out of a concert. If the lights haven't come on yet, you'll probably end up missing some songs. And I'll laugh at you as you come running back in.
# posted by Simon Dugard @ 9:32 am 
