Los Angeles, The Greek Theatre

OK guys. Let me first outline one thing here. The concert today, in the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, was the greatest concert in the tour so far.

Red Rocks had the beautiful venue and the great sound; Abravanel Hall had a lot of beauty in it, wonderful crowd and awesome sound; Las Vegas had an awesome performance of Telegraph Road; but the concert in L.A had one thing that all previous concerts didn’t have. And that thing is actually a person, responding to the name “John McCusker”.

To all the people that been to the previous shows: think about the band for a second, the interaction between them, how they complement each other, the synergy between them. Got the picture? good. Now multiply it by a thousand, and you get what we had today with John McCusker on stage.

The previous shows were great, fantastic. But with John today, the show was beyond great and fantastic. It became phenomenal. It became a serious kick in the b**t. Many times during the concert I had to return my jaw to an upright position, the apex being the absolutely amazing performance of Marbletown. I will have to admit and will not refrain: today’s performance of Marbletown was the first live performance of any song, ever, that made me shed a tear because it was so wonderfully crafted.

My assigned seat wasn’t very good; 6th row, the very last seat to the right. Then Linda came to the rescue! she and her son were positioned in the second row (in the pit). Her son agreed to switch places with me, and so I found myself sitting next to Linda at the second row.

Linda—THANK YOU!

The venue itself is very nice. Trees all around, clear sky, perfect lighting. And the sound... wow!

The opening act, Jesca Hoop, now playing in her home state, performed really well. Today she was accompanied by two backup singers who did a wonderful job (except for that caugh, but hey, we’re all people). I decided today to attempt to approach Jesca and ask her if she would be interested in playing together at some time. Problem is, that she always promises to “be there in the intermission between the two shows so if you want to say hi then you’re welcome”, but she’s never really there.

Then the band came. What a warm welcome! I bet that after the Vegas experience, the band was really happy to find a milder crowd. They enjoyed the crowd so much, that Mark, at the end of the concert, actually shook hands with people in the front row. Very unusual; I’ve never seen him doing that in any concert I attended so far.

So, where was I. Oh, John McCusker. Yes. Finally got his Visa papers straight, and boys / girls, can that guy play! It was nothing short of amazing.

The set list was identical to the one in Salt Lake City. Great performance of “Going Home” as the last encore.

I wanted to write some more about my experiences in Los Angeles itself, prior to the show; but I’m very tired now and I’m facing a very long drive tomorrow to Berkeley, so I’ll have to call it a night. I will post more tomorrow.

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Isaac