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fireglow5
4/9/01

winnipeg show

first: apologies to melanie for completely ripping off her review style. i just like it so damn much!!

second: royal city. they were interesting to watch and seemed like sincere boys. i’d file them somewhere between pedro the lion and wilco, a kinda emo-country mix. of course, since they didn’t start until almost an hour after they were supposed to, i was pretty impatient during their set...

le rendezvous is a big venue; not at all a bar. i’ve seen sloan, mgb, and afi there – so ya see it’s capable of housing all kinds of acts. for sarah, they had big tables set up around the back, a mile back from the stage. the big dance floor was full of people, sitting. it was nice seeing a room full of people sitting on the floor, watching the stage. sarah said she liked our “sit-in”. it was a cool way to watch a show.

wardrobe report (unecessary but fun): sarah was wearing a knee-length dark purple wool skirt and a light shirt. she had a handkercheif around her neck and her hair was down. she had knee-high socks on. note: i was wearing almost exactly the same thing, except for the handkercheif

and the songs...

came on lion: she played this solo. i was going to request it later if she’d asked, so i couldn’t believe it was the first song she played! (fyi: this is the song that goes “closer than a girl can get...”) it was very pretty; i’m starting to REALLY like this song.

the hideout: john and kevin came out for this one. i very much like the part at the end that goes “aaaallll ooouuuut at the hideouuuuttt” and it’s even more stellar live. i think it’s a perfect way to get the crowd into the show right away.

oleander: after she played “ came on lion” i thought ‘okay, i’ll request oleander’, but she got me again! she introduced it, of course, as a song about a houseplant that “wouldn’t be able to grow here”. beautiful, of course, though i wish i hadn’t felt like the only one singing along!

open window: she introduced this as a song she wrote for her high school friends’ wedding last summer. (picture: my sister and i immediately looking at each other: ‘open window!!!’). the “darkness unwavering” line gets me every time. so damn beautiful.

uniform grey: sarah played a little of the guitar part first and said she’d written it on the prairies, but the words came to her in halifax, so it was kind of a prairie-east coast mix. she also commented on the weather in winnipeg that day (grey skies, a little wind). how fun is this song to sing!!?

around this corner: she talked about going back to her little hometown and how it’s nice to do that, but there’s always this one person you don’t want to see (i was nodding when she said that, for sure)... for whatever reason that kind of gave new meaning to the song for me, because i was putting myself in that place as i listened to it.

handkerchiefs and napkins: the boys left sarah to herself for this one. this song surprised the hell out of me (i wasn’t aware she plays this solo). it was extremely pretty.

dogs and thunder: was next on my request list. how did she know??? the ending was so beautiful, the quiet humming parts. i’d have closed my eyes if i wasn’t too aware of how fast these kinda shows can go by.

goin’ out: we knew she was going to play this when she spoke of her aunt who recently passed away. she said she’d played seattle, then toronto (and admitted that made no sense at all, to play those shows in that order), so she’d been able to go to the funeral. this is such a sad song, but it feels so much like home. go figure.

trouble in the fields: john and kevin came back. “a nanci griffith song”, she said, and again, immediate excitement between my sister and i. people were singing along by the end.

don’t get your back up: i don’t listen to radio much so i haven’t heard it, but i guess it’s out there ‘cause this one got big response and lots of singing along.

good fortune: oh, were we excited about this one. i feel like it’s the best version i’ve ever heard, but i might be a tab biased. but damn, it was good. so happy, you know?

i’m a mountain: the last song on my request list. a mind-reader, that girl is. she commented on how they never usually play this during the main set, it’s usually reserved for encores. not as much crowd-singing as i would’ve liked (but hey, can’t complain). she also said she wrote it while watching tv i kinda wished (and i told her this after) that they would’ve saved it for the encore because then people would’ve been standing and more dancin’ would’ve gone on.

weakened state: excellent follow-up to i’m a mountain ‘cause we were all pumped by the end of that one. i only wish she would’ve said something about it ‘cause i’m really curious about how this song came to be.

basement apt: same crowd reaction as ‘back up’, and LOTS of singing. this is one of the few songs (of any artist) that i haven’t gotten tired of because of its airplay and popularity. it’s still stellar.

lodestar: there had been lots of audience shoutings for this one. of course the most amazing part was the end. it always is. yes. i watched sarah’s hands a lot during this one. love that guitar.

everytime: i love how she sings the “i can feel it on your thigh” live, like the words are supposed to be. however i always screw it up and sing “size” like she does on the cd. ah well.

you were here: now this deserves some explanation. after everytime, the kids left the stage. when they came back for the encore, sarah talked a little about this song. she said “it’s the title track to the record, ‘you were here’, and it’s about...” (i can’t remember exactly what she said, something about putting all you have into love). kevin began with the beautiful beautiful cello, and sarah began singing. i sang along. the words were: “and when i heard about the coming day...” and so on. after the “and there you are tucked in the seams” line, sarah stopped. what the hell? then she said “that’s the wrong song”. and damned if she wasn’t right. i hadn’t even noticed that she was singing ‘capsized.’ (i kinda wish she hadn’t realized it either ‘cause i would’ve loved to hear that song!!). she was laughing lots (as was the crowd). kevin said “yeah, when you started singing, john and i kinda looked at each other...” anyway, she played a beautiful ‘you were here’ that wasn’t disturbed at all by that little mistake.

after the show when i was talking to john and sarah, i told them my request for their next winnipeg show was “the second half of capsized”

but i’ll go on and on about talking to them in my next post.