Joyed_

Joyed · @Joyed_

10th Dec 2011 from Twitlonger

Enjoy my (super long) concert recap (with my one video included)!

I’ve always enjoyed experiencing things through the eyes of others. I’ve read all your concert recaps in the past and enjoyed them thoroughly, so it is now my turn to return the favor!

I went to David Cook’s Irving Plaza Concert in New York City last night.

To give some background, I haven’t seen David in concert since his album release concert - in November 2008! That was a fun night to be a part of, but that was a very short concert, and the songs were just at the beginning of their development. Clearly a lot has happened since then.

I was originally going to go to this concert with my friend (who had gone with me to see David before) but she was sick and couldn’t go, so I wound up going by myself.

I got in line about an hour before they opened the doors. There was already a good sized crowd going around the block. Just from listening to conversation in line, I felt like it would be a good concert. That’s because the people in line were big fans. Even the people who fall on the more “casual” side of the spectrum knew a lot - the girl in front of me was telling her boyfriend that he would probably like “Let Me Fall For You.” When a crowd knows the bonus tracks, you know you’re in for a treat.

The other thing I noticed was that the line was a mix of all types of people - older and younger, male and female. Why was I observing this? Because I know that the vibe of a concert can be greatly impacted by the crowd attending it - I wanted a crowd that would make the vibe amazing.

They opened the doors a little late, but I didn’t care. Once inside I bought a little merch - a sweater and a keychain. I love that neither of them have his head on it, heh. Then I did coatcheck.

By the time I got upstairs to the venue, I was in the middle of the back. I have to say (when I can see) I like being a little farther back. I think it makes it easier to lose yourself into the energy of the crowd when you can see the people. So, in some ways, I had a really great spot.

There was a projector screen instead of a curtain on the stage. When that went up, it was time for the opener Zander Bleck. I had read up on him beforehand, so I knew this was a hometown show for him. I could tell it meant a lot to him because his banter was more personal than it had been earlier on in the tour and his stage movements seemed a little bit more refined than earlier where they seemed exaggeratedly theatrical (I’ve seen some videos). He uses a lot of reverb, but he sings in tune and has a very fun throwback 80s new wave sound to his songs. I enjoyed him and danced around and clapped like he asked. I have to say that overall it was a tough crowd for him - he really had to work to get even half the audience to just clap. (Some of this may have to do with the fact that musically it didn’t always feel like a good place to clap - he’ll learn as he plays more). It also reinforced for me why opening alone (and never headlining) just doesn’t make sense for artists - they really need to experience the joy of having people there for you alone. But, it wasn’t a mean crowd to Zander and I did enjoy the youngish guy who grooved super hard during his set - everyone has super fans!

During intermission, I was amused by the audience near me. A lady was there with her daughter and wasn’t familiar with David’s band and so this other girl was explaining the band members. The reason the lady had been asking is because she had seen the grizzled guitar tech on stage and thought he was one of the band members! It was pretty funny because you could tell she was puzzled that his bandmembers would be so much older, lol. So after that fun interlude, it was time for David.

After having watched the crowd’s tepid reaction to Zander, it made me wonder what the crowd would be like for David. Would they be the more cynical, hard to please New York type of audience? I really shouldn’t have worried. The second the notes of “Circadian” started up the crowd was pumped. David is great at working a crowd, but honestly he had the audience on his side from the beginning.

This was a crowd where just about everyone owned the album. I was next to some girls who knew the words and sang to every single song (and contrary to how it can seem on youtube, when everyone sings and cheers in concert it feels amazing!) We danced and sang to every song (and David loved that we knew the words and were able to sing lines of songs to him). The audience in front of me (even the tall guy blocking my view, who thankfully moved more to the side) was a sea of people into the moment. And people were into it - those around me would take photos every now and then, but during the songs, no one had their camera up - we were all just enjoying being in the moment.

For fun I had tried to guess the setlist the night before. I knew that all the singles plus the bookends of Circadian and REM would be on the list, and yet I still forgot to include The Last Goodbye! That is my least favorite song on the album. But I loved it in concert; we all had fun bouncing up and down to it. It really drove home for me that songs are living music, and are not just a recorded version - and not liking a recording of a song is not the same as it being a bad song.

I didn’t really have any true ponies song-wise because I really like all the songs he was playing. But it was still nice to experience “Let Me Fall for You” and “Goodbye to the Girl.” During Mr. Sensitive, there is a point where they pause the melody of the song and repeat the beat for a few notes. Savvy fans had noted that it could vary each night from anywhere from 4-7(?) beats where they would draw the moment out. Last night, it was super long, like over 10. It felt like another little treat.

I knew this concert was the last on this leg of the tour and that there could be surprises. So I was thrilled when early on in the night David mentioned there would be some surprises. The first time was Jerry Gaskill subbing in to drum on the King’s X song “Dogman.” I had watched online as that cover was debuted, then came to the attention of King’s X fans, and then King’s X themselves. They posted the concert vids on their Facebook. Jerry, the drummer, then went to David’s concert in Clifton. To have him then guest on his own song in NY created the most amazing feeling. That kind of musical brotherhood was so awesome to watch unfold - it was so organic and unexpected. (Also, the drumming was killer on that song).

The next big surprise came during the encore. I was wondering why it was taking so long for them to come back out because, hello, all they needed to do was come back to the same spots and play. (I am so unobservant and didn’t notice them setting up new spots - to be fair, I couldn’t always see over the crowd).

Then David comes out in his enormous Top Hat and you just knew it was going to be awesome. I had seen Ryan Star and the Van Zandts in the VIP balcony (knew from twitter they would be there) and noticed they were sitting next to each other. So when David had Ryan come out, I began to expect Steven too. Sure enough he came out next! It was so fun. It again felt like that brotherhood of music that I experienced when Jerry played drums.

I’m kind of embarrassed how long it took me to recognize “Eight Days a Week” - I actually remember thinking, “Oh, this is definitely a Beatles song” but I was so into the moment, my brain took several minutes to actually identify the song. (Later I was amused that the two Cooks of season 7 have now covered this song, although Kristy Lee Cook’s version was a little different….) Anyway, this was the one and only song I filmed during the concert. You can watch the introduction and the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-CKJXVWOvs

I really just wanted to enjoy myself and immerse myself in the experience so I stopped recording when they started up “Rock and Roll” cause I just wanted to rock out (at my 2008 concert, I also only recorded one song, “Lie” which you can see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kS2M4iAqZc ).

Those songs punched the mood up to full out rock show. David then went to play “Fade into Me” - I laughed when he jokingly was like, “Damn, I should have ended with the other stuff,” but honestly, this was the perfect song to have next.

I’m not a huge fan of the recorded version of “Fade into Me,” but I don’t dislike it either. However in concert it is a thing of beauty. I had noticed in earlier concerts (via youtube) that the song did not feel like it was about a romantic relationship when David sang it in concert. It felt to me like it could be a love song between an audience and an artist - “melting together” to escape into music and share one common experience together for a moment. The music video confirmed this interpretation for me, and as we sang it back to him in concert last night, I got to live it. It was special.

I actually forgot REM was the last song, so it was like a nice bonus when they played that next. When the concert ended, it had felt like the perfect night. I couldn’t have told you how many songs were played (in some ways it was over too quickly!) but I knew I felt satisfied - this was a concert that had great ebb and flow (and I just remembered that David told us he had planned the setlist for the night).

After the concert I first failed then succeeded in meeting up with people (and that added a whole other level of awesomeness to the night!) Once I made it home, it was super late and I was on a complete concert high, which honestly I am still feeling.

One thing that was different about this concert compared to the one I saw in 2008 - the deeper bond between the artist and the audience. David has always done well at connecting, but it feels like he has really begun to master how to enhance that feeling at his concerts and bring everyone together. Which honestly is my favorite thing about concerts - I don’t need (or really even want) to meet him. I like having some distance between me and the music I love. The thing I want when I go to a concert is to feel like I’m part of a moment, and for me he made that happen. What luck that the one concert I got to go to was this one.

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