Concert Diaries Chapter 19: Winter Wonderland (a Let's December It post)

My friend Brenda is here from Colorado and we have tickets to not one, but two Gavin DeGraw concerts.  Saturday night in Wallingford, Connecticut and Sunday night, out on Long Island.  Saturday's show also features Plain White T's, Sara Bareilles, Avril Lavigne, and The Backstreet Boys.  As it turned out, it also featured a huge snow storm.

The storm had been predicted.  All week.  The original plan was to drive to Connecticut and back and then to Long Island the next day.  As the storm predictions grew worse and worse I contemplated getting a room near Wallingford.  The morning of the show, I booked it.  The weather folks had me sufficiently scared.

We set off for the Oakdale Theater in Wallingford earlier than planned because we hoped to arrive before the worst of it.  And basically we did.  Except for the last 10 miles or so when it started to really come down totally obscuring the exit ramp, resulting in my missing it.  Thank goodness for GPS.  We checked in at the hotel but didn't stop there very long.  Even though we had seats for the performance, who knew how long it would take to get to the venue.  Under normal conditions we were about 15 minutes away.  In ice and snow?

Jarlsburg on my lap.

Big decisions needed to be made.  Stop for food or not?  We hadn't even had lunch.  We had, however, packed a nice Cabernet Sauvignon, Prosecco, a variety of cheese and crackers.  We decided that would do.  We arrived in the parking lot at 4:30.  Doors were not to open until 6:30.  And thus our first blizzard tailgate happy hour was born.  Gavin fans are good at waiting.  We arrive early; we stay late.  We have our fellow fans for company and no end to the great conversations.  Time passed quickly.  (And we highly recommend the Smoking Loon Cab.)

Tim Lopez of the Plain White T's

So our seats weren't the greatest.  We stayed put for Plain White T's who were really good.  I enjoyed the folky vibe to their music and the tight harmonies.  Hey There Delilah is such a pretty song but their new single, The Giving Tree (sort of based on the book) was really heartfelt.  I could never read that book to my kids without crying and the song gave me the same feeling.

Put up your hands and surrender to me (Make A Move)

Gavin was next.  As the lights went down, we moved to the front of our section.  The storm had kept a lot of people away so we improved our sight lines slightly in the vacant seats.  The sets are on the short side when there are so many acts taking the stage.  Only seven songs but he spent three of them in the audience, one of them very close to where we were.  He sang old standard favorites (In Love With a Girl, Chariot, I Don't Want to Be, Not Over You) and a couple of songs from the new album (Make a Move and Best I Ever Had).  I think I'd have been somewhat disappointed in the brevity of the set list had I not known the best was to come the following night during a solo concert.

During Gavin's set the unthinkable happened:  fangirl dropped her camera.  Yes, I broke the lens on my new camera.  I was leaning over the railing where I'd set it down and knocked it over the edge.  It was a stupid preventable accident and I was more than annoyed with myself.  This is the last picture I took that night.  We were too far away for good iPhone photos.  (That's one above.)

When Gavin goes into the audience at a seated show, he stands on seats or the arms of the seats.  He'll walk across them while singing and when he finds just the right spot, well, some people get really lucky.  We were those people in Yonkers.  Watching him sing while balancing on the arms of the chairs while people are clutching at him made me a nervous wreck Saturday night.

Avril Lavigne was up next.  I confess I am not familiar with her and wasn't sufficiently interested to look her up or give her a listen.  She was loud and I suppose she was good but I'm the furthest thing from an expert in rock music.  I thought all the songs sounded rather alike.

Next to last was Sara Bareilles.  I think after Gavin DeGraw, she might be my favorite singer.  She and Michael Franti.  She, also, played older favorites and numbers from her new album.  I was thrilled that she sang Manhattan.  It's probably my favorite song of any she's recorded.  She sings it so ethereally and it conveys a truthfulness about life after a relationship has ended that I think everyone could relate to.  I was hoping she'd sing her beautiful Christmas song too (Love Is Christmas) but sadly, for me, she did not.  She did sing December though; it's a beautiful song too.

Last up were the Backstreet Boys.  I know I'm going to take some heat for this but I just don't see the big deal.  The radio folks spent every introduction of every other artist emphasizing BSB and I thought that was kind of rude.  These other artists never took a break; they're not "getting back together." They've been working hard for a lot of years.

There was a lot of energy on the stage when they came out.  Their choreography was--okay, truthfully, I thought it was silly looking for guys their age. They're not a "boy band" anymore.  They're dads themselves.  Someone should tell them it's okay to just sing.  I also have this question:  if there's no band on the stage and no instruments in your hands, where are the sounds of guitars and drums coming from?  Is that recorded music they're singing to?  Is that how they've always performed?  So they give a partially live performance?  They did pause and do a few acoustic songs in the middle of their set.  They played and sang sitting on stools set in a semi circle on the stage.  That was nice.  But I will go on record as the only person who's fallen asleep during the Backstreet Boys live.  I'd been up until 3 AM the night before and had driven two hours in sub optimal conditions.  Those are my excuses.

Brenda, being from Colorado, drove us back to the hotel.  Thank goodness.  She is 'way more confidant in crappy road conditions than I am.  It was after midnight and we'd still not had a proper meal all day.  We drove around the "slip sliding" roads for a while in my "skate" which was her nickname for my little red Fiesta until we found a Burger King.  I ordered more food than we needed and let's be clear:  we still never had a proper meal that day.

Tyler Hilton (another favorite)
and fast food.  It will do in a pinch.

Post concert, there's lots of rehashing to do and we did it over burgers, onion rings and assorted other fried brown food.  At 1 AM.  Pretty unhealthy but it tasted good at the time.  The new Tyler Hilton Christmas movie was on television but the signal kept going out because of the storm so I settled for writing and outlining my impressions after Brenda fell asleep.  There is no going straight to bed after having heard Gavin DeGraw.  At least not for me ... I'm just completely wound.  So I saw 3 AM for the second night in a row.

But sleep would come and so would the morning.  The best was yet to come.

~~~~~

Sara Bareilles sang December at the Paramount earlier in the week.  We would be at The Paramount the next night for Gavin DeGraw.

Not Over You at the Oakdale Theater.





Gavin's set list.


                   Sara's set list.