This is what I was expecting from the Ingrid Michaelson concert: A girl and her ukulele, warbling away with a plinky accompaniment that shows off her voice. Like this.
However, the first third of the concert was this:
See all those other people on stage? They are loud. I have no idea what the first four songs were about, because I couldn’t hear the lyrics. I still heard Ingrid warbling something, and I got the impression she was very injured by Love yet still resilient. Other than that, I don’t know what was going on.
Gary was delighted, because the first song had every person on stage playing a drum. When he plays the drums in the basement with Ingrid he does not let her show off her voice either.
If the new noisy band is there to act out Gary’s fantasy, the new arrangement of The Way I Am is my fantasy out there for everyone to see. Who among us has not sung that song and hammed up every trill? I sing it in the car with great significance and pathos. The new arrangement made me think Ingrid had heard me and wanted to show me how it’s done. She pared down everything but her, the ukulele, and she didn’t lean on the uke except to throw in a plink to punctuate the phrasing.
Here’s a clip someone else got earlier this year. I like how the audience is singing the glib old version and she’s singing the new version with the great depth of feeling.
I like that new arrangement. I like that she’s experimenting with new sounds. I just want to hear the words. And you darn kids get off my lawn, and in my day we called them brassieres.
5 responses to “Ingrid Michaelson Concert 7-16-2012”
Ah. This is why I seldom go to concerts. I loathe that everyone in the audience thinks she is a better singer than the artist I paid $60 to see.
The only time it works is with Tom Petty on “Free Fallin’”. In fact, at the end of the song, he says, “Y’all sounded great.” And they did.
Yeah. Sit the hell down, shut up, and get off my lawn, too. Foundation garments!
Wonderful voice! I don’t get any pleasure out of concerts any more, because I have hearing loss and a constant buzzing in my ear. So actually canned music is better for me.
Some days I wish that I went to more concerts. This seems like a lovely one. But amplified music in a closed space combined with people in my personal space make me nervous and cranky. Riverport is perfect for me, except people often are not sticking to their own blanket. Basically, it would be perfect if it was laid out like a bingo game and I got to pick my square.
The last concert I saw, a few weeks ago, was Flight of the Conchords (or FOTC as we know them here, not to be confused with LOTR, which Bret had a small part in. Acted in, I mean). It was good, and clever, but you do hear the words and music better through earphones.
Becs – I’ve found that the less I like the band the more I enjoy the concert. I’ll get all agitated if the people near me are socializing at a BNL concert and not attending to the lyrics. Ingrid, not so much.
Hattie – Buzzing? Not ringing? That trick of listening to the ringing for a solid minute works for my ringing. I wonder if it would work for buzzing. Earbuds are better for the music, but you’d miss the energy and ad-libbing. That differs band to band.
Amy in StL – The only aggravating thing last night was that I was on a stool, then there was a path for waiters, then there were chairs, and the girl in front of me had scooted her chair back five inches. Everyone of the path brushed against my knee and she was oblivious. She has shushed someone earlier, though, so I let it go, because that made us friends.
Big Dot – earphones AND the lyric insert right in front of you so you can read along, that’s how I like it.