the last fleeting seconds

Last week, I wrote about seeing Jenny Lewis. On Friday, Jeffrey, Alyssa and I saw her. It was amazing.

I’m not a heavy concert go-er; I can count on 10 fingers the number of concerts I’ve seen in my life. Other concerts I’ve seen have been in theaters more like this and this–huge shows, where the stage is a good 50-100 feet away.

Here, in Koko, we were in the first/second row. Jenny Lewis was all of 5 feet away. Perhaps it is because she used to be an actress, or maybe she just has an incredibly charismatic personality, but she is definitely blessed with an ability to make people love her. She effortlessly drew and held everyone’s attention, even Alyssa, who had never really heard of her before, much less heard any of her music.

Watching her interact with her band members, smile at the audience, dance about the stage, etc. has left me with an overwhelming desire to have her be my friend. Hence, I desperately smiled at her the entire show. Unfortunately, I think I was surrounded by people feeling similar emotions–i.e., I have a feeling she was being bombarded by gleaming teeth.

Nevertheless, if you have a chance, I would definitely recommend seeing her (tour schedule here). Even if you aren’t quite into her music, (BBC review of “Acid Tongue”), she’s worth it just for her stage presence. Speaking of the BBC review, I would definitely agree about “The Next Messiah”– I really don’t understand why that song is so long. It has three distinct parts, which stand quite beautifully alone–I probably would listen to it more if they were alone. “Black Sand” and “Pretty Bird” were my two favorite tracks, however, I know can’t get the image of her performing “Jack Killed Mom” out of my head–hence I’ve been listening to it semi-constantly since Friday.

If you don’t already have it, you will probably end up buying her CD on the way out the door, just to have something to remind you of the amazing-ness of the night.

Jeffrey also wrote a post about the show. His is much better at elucidating the show–i.e., if you are interested in the setlist, the openers, etc. go check it out. I was a little oblivious.

Here are some terrible pictures. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so they are taken by my cell phone (a CU500v, FYI)