fran healy @ housing works, new york city

no exaggeration here. this gig – starting with randomly stumbling upon a page on travisonline.com, to scoring three $20 tickets, to getting in a line that moved along so fast, to being in the midst of a most civilized crowd, to being given free beer, to finding out about a great organization located in the heart of the city serving the needs of those living with the HIV virus, to enjoying one of the most intimate and heartfelt gigs i have ever been to – made for one of the best concert experiences.

fran healy, what a show. what a class act. what a lovely, wonderful evening of music, friends, family, and fun. i found out about this gig online while browsing through music blogs. my little sis, a rabid fan of travis (myself being the ravenous one), and i had been anticipating the release of ‘ode to j. smith,’ the scottish quartet’s 6th full length album 1st or 2nd week of november, depending on what side of the atlantic ocean you’re on. upon finding out that the magic number was 11/4, we decided to wait til the weekend to download the album. we also found out about the fran healy gig, surprisingly not a travis one, so i acted fast.

i have been to all but 1 or 2 major concert venues in new york city, but not to housing works bookstore cafe on crosby and houston, just a block away from the puck building on lafayette. i had been there once before after a career fair in my junior or senior year at nyu, which was, incidentally, held at the puck bldg to grab a cup of coffee and a brownie. but it was my first time there as a concert goer. it was a lovely venue for a small, intimate acoustic session. and small and intimate it was. fran, wife, and baby and a small entourage of friends strolled in just as the opening act was wrapping up. lil sis and i were oogling in anticipation, wondering what he was doing, when he was going to make his way toward the stage, and what he was going to sing. most of all, we were anxious to see his stage presence. not just any stage, but a stage where the first row audience was no more than 7-8 feet away from him and his guitar.

he walked up the stage, tuned his guitar a bit, and just started singing and playing. it was brilliant. he said he’d sing songs in succession according the date of the album release and nobody had a problem with that. i have never seen so many smiles in a room. he started with ‘i just wanna rock and roll’ and went on to sing songs from ‘the man who’ and ‘the invisible band.’ by the time he got to ‘driftwood’ and ‘flowers in the window,’ the room was just beaming with excitement. fran healy has such a wonderful sense of humor and, though i cannot understand every word he says (i am horrible with thick british, scottish accents), i sensed a self-deprecation, humble kind of humor, which i absolutely love in people.

he went on to play all the goodness that is travis tunes. it was too cool to hear live all these songs…so many of these songs that have been listening to for such a long time and SO MANY TIMES. what i love is that all these songs point to fond memories in my life… in my early 20s as a fresh out of college grad starting out in the real world…finding myself and just having some fun.

one of the funniest moments had to have been when he earnestly began the song ‘flowers in the window’ and when he began singing “When I first felt you I was cold…” he was totally off key and he realized the capo was on when it should not have been! Haha! He totally cracked up and started over again. It was super adorable! Hahaha…

Set list:
-All I Wanna do is rock
-Turn
-Writing to Reach You
-Driftwood
-Blue Flashing Light
-Flowers in the Window
-Sing
-Indefinitely
-Love Will Come Through
-Closer
-My Eyes
-Friends
-Song to Self
Encores: I Kissed a Girl (yes, you read correctly!! ewwww…) and ‘Side.’

that was the set list.  i doubt that he’ll ever play a set like that ever again unless he ‘drops in’ on visits like this.  i am looking forward to their u.s. tour, which is due to be in feb or march according to the insiders.  still to come on musicbybeans: some kickbutt clips that my sister took on my trusty digital camera. 

please visit housing works on 126 crosby street between houston and prince.  they have a wide variety of books, music, and even food (coffee, beer).

and don’t forget to download your very own copy of the latest travis:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_dmusic_3_7?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=travis+ode+to+j+smith&sprefix=travis+&sprefix=travis+&sprefix=travis+&sprefix=travis+&sprefix=travis+&sprefix=travis+

keane (live) – irving plaza new york city – 9/24/2004

Keane @ Irving Plaza. New York City, September 29, 2004. I go to a lot of concerts. East Coast and West Coast, I’ve gone to small smoky club venues and I’ve gone to the megavenues where giants like U2 sell out. I’ve seen small-name local ska-punk bands perform and I’ve seen Paul McCartney perform “Hey Jude.” But not often, though not never, do I go to a show where there is as much energy, anticipation, and support from the crowd as there were last night at the Keane show. And rarely do I see the frontman gaze at the crowd with such a look of sincere incredulity at the sold-out turnout. I think I’ve told the story of how I sought Keane out (yes, I did use the word sought) and how excited I was when I got an email announcing their US tour. Obviously there was great anticipation, especially after having heard the album through and through. Not sure what it is that I like about them, but I just do. I even brought along two Keane converts with me to enjoy the show and they both absolutely loved it. The band’s performance was totally synergistic, given the not-so-daunting size and good acoustics of the room at Irving Plaza. Cherub-faced Tom Chaplin can really belt it out; hitting notes that I thought were only possible in the safe and secure studios. Each song was inspiring and everyone in the crowd knew all the lyrics. I was like, “where have I been?” They began with ‘Can’t Stop Now’ and played almost all the songs in th entire album, plus a few tracks not found in the US albums. He dedicated the song ‘Sunshine’ to New York City who has received him with “such warmth and enthusiasm.” A couple times throughout the show, I felt like I was at a Coldplay concert (e.g. frontman talking to the crowd as if they’re sitting together at a cafe, pounding on the piano, lighting effects…) but the sound was unique and the quality of the live performance was very impressive. I especially enjoyed it because Chaplin’s performance style was so down to earth and he was so earnest, unlike some of the snooty stonedbands I’ve seen. Both Keane’s anthemic songs and sweet, mellow ballads were much better heard live. The crowd went insane when they played the more upbeat songs in the album (This is the Last Time, Bend and Break, Everybody’s Changing). They finished the night with an encore performance of ‘Bedshaped.’ I thought, “now I can go home happy.”