I love mistakes. I love awards shows, I love live TV, and I love outtakes. I also loved the BNL concert Monday night, though it was rife with mistakes. Rife. Delightfully rife.
God made the first mistake. It rained, but we did not care.
A few days earlier BNL had taped a special for PBS (set your TiVos for .... late 2007 or early 2008). I am hoping they expended all their perfection for that show, because this show was like a big sigh of relief, followed by maniacal laughter. It reminded me a little of high school theater, when we'd celebrate the last show of a run by trying to crack each other up.
It started off fine, but a few songs in (Too Little Too Late, I believe), Steve has a spot in which he vaults past the microphone and grabs it off the stand while airborne. Missed the mic. Found himself on terra firma, sans mic, and many more words to sing. He ran back to the microphone stand and owned up (to wit: "Oops..."), because you can't improv your way through that.
Evidently this song had some cursed choreography: Ed almost fell off the stage and Steve almost kicked Ed in the head. I know this because they owned up to it.
The next song we got to see Jim...
... do some Charlie's Angels choreography with Ed:
They played several of my favorite songs, such as Get In Line (aka The Neuropsychiatrist Song) and Grade Nine. Things went seamlessly, until Some Fantastic. In this song, there is a droll solo by the keyboard guy, Kevin:
...and this time, Steven heard it and was completely overwhelmed by giggles, so much so that he was unable to choke out anything but "I kill me!" and the last line of the verse.
He spent much of the next few songs trying to get Kevin to laugh. We'd see him direct his face into Kevin's line of vision, and Kevin would get a look of panic and look away in fear. It was reported from the front rows that Steve had placed a guitar pick on his tongue and would intermittently stick his tongue out at Kevin.
As they were all gathered around one microphone they started to play For You:
Of course I would never have known if it was in the wrong key, but after one note they owned up to it. Steven sang: "That was wrong / That was bad / You should try again" and Ed responded with a similar musical improv along the lines of, "Yeah that sucked / It will be okay."
Look at that sweet smile below. That is love.
There were of course ad-libs (which can never be a mistake). Ed found a pick from another band on stage, and within minutes an imaginary band feud was born. Poor Bravery band. They left a pick on the ground, that's all they did. That made them fair game:
Ed: "Let's hear it for the opening act, the Hundreds and Thousands!"
Crowd: (Roars)
Ed: "Let's hear it for The Bravery!"
Crowd: (Roars)
Steven: "You SLUTS!"
We got a fairly good photo of Ed's description of piloting his small plane into Chicago:
... so detailed a photo you can almost hear the sound effect Ed's making.
So, technically, there were some flaws, but on the whole, in this world I'd pay just to see five guys who actually like each other.
That sounds like a legendary show. I'm glad you get to see so many that you can spare some enjoyment for a silly one.
Btw, thanks to you, I busted out all my BNL CDs. Like finding some old friends on MySpace.
Posted by: Vaguely Urban | June 20, 2007 at 11:33 PM
*sigh*
I'm dreadfully jealous. Now I want to not only attend a BNL concert, but do so with you.
I'd still pay for a weekend of sweaty hot motel monkey sex with Steve.
Posted by: Jammies | June 21, 2007 at 07:52 AM
I love BNL so much it's almost felonious. Damn, they need to come back to Indy.
Posted by: Angie | June 21, 2007 at 09:24 AM
Great summary of the concert! If only I could have gone to all four this summer, instead of just the one at Buffalo. Oh well...
Posted by: Laurel | June 21, 2007 at 09:32 AM
Sounds like a great time. No BNL shows for me until the cruise. Dang it.
Posted by: Melissa | June 21, 2007 at 09:34 AM
My favorite shows are the ones where they can't get their shit together.
Some Fantastic seems to cause them issues regularly - check out I think it's the 2005 Buffalo Holiday show for the best Some Fantastic ever.
Posted by: Emma | June 21, 2007 at 10:33 AM
Too cool! Thanks for the pics... and the "blow by blow". Sounds like it was terrific. I love when mistakes are made and they own up to 'em... makes them even more likable.
Posted by: sue | June 21, 2007 at 11:42 AM
Much wuv for da photos! You have a great face, ya know?
Posted by: Sherri | June 21, 2007 at 04:11 PM
Thanks for that. You just made my night.
Posted by: Erin | June 21, 2007 at 07:07 PM
Vaguely - do you have the new CDs? Or better yet, go to Amazon and hunt down one of their B-sides, "She's On Time." Never been on an album. Hysterical.
Jammies - I am going to work "sweaty hot motel monkey sex" into all my conversations whenever possible, if it's okay with you.(Sweaty hot motel monkey sex. Sweaty hot motel monkey sex.)
Angie - Yeah! I could drive to Indy.
Laurel - But, you got the one in Buffalo. Was that ArtPark? Or do you mean the Jackson-Triggs (?) one that Steve is doing solo by the falls?
Melissa - yeah, but the cruise is so great ... stop, we're making people jealous.
Emma - ha! That one is on my iPod already. Each time they goof up Some Fantastic I want to yell out "I want a proper song!"
Sue - I wish there were more performers like them, especially ones that enjoy their jobs. The last few non-BNL acts I've seen the performer grouches about the sound, or the venue, or whatever - it just ruins it for me.
Sherri - Uh, you didn't see the photos I deleted....
Erin - Good! Even more reason to go to BNL concerts or the solo concert in Niagra ... that might be all it takes to convince me.
Posted by: TheQueen | June 21, 2007 at 10:06 PM
We can't always love our jobs, but yeah, it is so nice when a band looks like they're having fun. Thanks for sharing! Btw, the photos are awesome. What kind of camera gave you those nice telephoto shots??
Posted by: Laura | June 22, 2007 at 01:20 PM
It's sitting right here, so I'll just give you all the words and numbers on it.
Olympus SP-55OUZ 18 x optical zoom Image stabilization. Oh, and 7.1 megapixel.
I dunno. I like to watch a concert, and evidently Gary likes to hear it while taking photos.
Posted by: TheQueen | June 22, 2007 at 09:55 PM
Oh, LAUREL! It's You! Sorry, it took me a few days. Hey, everybody, it's Really_mzungu from the cruise. Say hi.
Posted by: TheQueen | June 22, 2007 at 10:54 PM