It's true. For while I absolutely love Pearl Jam "Ten" and have recently been turned onto "Vs." and love it also, that is pretty much the extent of my 'Eddie contact'.... until the night before last that is.
Monday evening found me and my friend Gina in our best black pants / white dress tops / sensible black shoes / and ~you guessed it~ black jacket, standing with the rest of the similarly dressed ushers in the entryway of Oakland's magnificent Paramount Theatre. To be an usher there, one must take the tour, offered one Saturday per month for a fee of $2. Gladly done. Several years ago, we wanted to work David Gilmore (I mean seriously, wouldn't you?) on a Sunday night and timing was perfect for a quick tour & usher orientation the day before. Since then, I've worked several shows there. The last one, tho, seems to have been THREE years ago! (Melissa Etheridge) Oh, I've been there since, but as a paying customer. So it was fun to put the penguin suit back on and check out a freebie for a change.
It was a sold out show, so we were expecting a busy time. And we like the balcony as far as assignments go ~ so we were at the very top of the house during the warm up act, Glen Hansard. You want to talk about some exciting music? Glen Hansard KICKED ASS on his guitar, singing, every eye in the place on him and paying attention. I'd never heard of him *except* he's the star of the movie, "Once" ~ a musically themed movie with him as a very talented busker ~ which I've seen once (no pun intended ;-) So that was great. And since most of the people were happily in their seats by about halfway through Glen's set, my aisle captain says, Why don't you just grab a seat? :-) Okay! And that was it ~ I was off work.
Gina got off work shortly thereafter so during the time between acts we boogied to the bathroom and changed into /normal/ clothes, got a beer, and sat down to relax in one of the sumptuously appointed hallways for a cocktail. I had some amaretto in a little flask in my bag ~ TOTALLY one of the perks of being an usher ~ no one searches your stuff ~ and I had a couple clear plastic cups.... just like they use there. Happy hour! I love a sweet liqueur chased by a cold beer. The bell sounds... it sounds again, and people are running into the auditorium.
We couldn't look for empty seats until everyone was in theirs, so we just hung back a few minutes and then moseyed in. I'd spied a couple empty seats up near where I'd been working... and Gina knew of a few, too ~ but they were up so high! And the rules there are very specific regarding cutting in front of a customer to get to an empty seat~ NOT allowed. Looking around, here and there, we saw two empty seats on an aisle and grabbed them, and ~ joy of joys ~ no one ever came by to tell us we were in their seats. So yay!
And then... Eddie proceeded to blow my mind. The music that came out of that ONE man was simply amazing. His playing was beautiful and powerful, combining these higher pitched guitars and ukuleles with his deep gravely and soulful voice... A beautiful thing. Two full hours of it. I was familiar with only a couple of the songs, but was enthralled and engaged the *entire* time. And for several of the encore songs, Glen came out and joined him and it was ~ perfection ~ their voices like angels, their playing sublime.
Just a couple songs from the very end, with Glen out on stage where he'd been playing bass or accompanying Eddie on rhythm guitar or just singing... they did something that I have never seen done before at *any* concert. The two of them walked out beyond the monitors and the microphones, past the electronics, pedals and lights ~ Eddie unplugging his mandolin along the way ~ to the very edge of the stage. Standing there they sang a song, with the mandolin the sole instrumental accompaniment, *completely* unplugged. Every person in the theatre was silent, listening. Explosive applause followed.
Yes, I had a good time. I think everyone else did as well.
