A few weeks ago I found myself standing outside the Varsity Theatre in Minneapolis shivering my tail off with my wife, Amber… again. This was our second time going to see Rachael Yamagata, a singer/songwriter from Virginia. This was also the second time we had positioned ourselves to be first in line to see her, because, well, we're cool like that. As it happens, the first time we saw her (several years ago) was also at the Varsity, and this time, like the first time, neither of us were smart enough to bring tissues to wipe our freezing, dripping noses on. It was gross.
One of the things I like about Ms. Yamagata is how unassuming she is. While we were standing out there, wanting to, yet not wanting to wipe our noses on our sleeves, Rachael came out for a smoke (which, oddly enough, also happened the first time we were here.) And like the first time, she smiled, said "Hi" to us, and just kinda did her thing. That's not to say she was aloof or anything. She was just doing what seemed like some pre-show prep.
As cool as it was to share that extremely ordinary moment with her on the sidewalk, the show, I must say, eclipsed it. Being the first two people in the door, Amber and I snagged the best two seats in the house. Aside from being an immensely talented songwriter, pianist, guitarist, and vocalist (with a very sexy, smoky voice), she's an extremely open, personal, and engaging performer. She regularly shares intimate stories of past relationships with sometimes painful endings, but she does it with an endearing sense of humor that makes you empathize with her and begin to like and appreciate her as a real live person; not just a lady on a stage or a person in a video. For me, at least, this makes listening to her music, even at home, infinitely more enjoyable.
Once the show ended and Amber finished up her Knob Creek and I polished off my Tallgrass Oasis (preceded by a Surly Furious), I did something that I wasn't able (or at least didn't think) to do the first time we saw her: I snagged the set list off the stage. And it wasn't just any set list. No. It was Rachael's, and it was in marker, not a photocopy. Obviously, I'm pretty easily pleased. The best thing about getting that list though, is that, because of my lightening quick reflexes, I was able to fully piss off the dude next to me by getting to it first. Anyway, with set list in hand, Amber and I made it back out into the cold, walked back to the same parking lot we used the first time we were there, got in the same Jeep we took there the first time, and drove home in good, rather nostalgic moods.
No comments:
Post a Comment