Who: Kacey Musgraves with the Lone Bellow and Humming House
When: April 25, 2015
Where: Fox Theater/ Oakland, CA
With: Alex
Of Note: HUMMING HOUSE!!!
2015 was a year in which I traveled a lot. Too much, maybe. Anyway, traveling that much is how I ended up waking up after four days in NYC and a full week in Chicago, flying from Chicago to SFO, and heading straight to a restaurant across the street from the Fox. And I still didn't yawn during the concert as much as Alex, despite the fact that I'd been awake since approximately 4am PST. I am a beast.
Alex loooooves the Lone Bellow, which is (I think) mostly why we went to this show but, HOLY HELL HUMMING HOUSE. Humming House were the first opener and were the most amazing, high energy, poppy side of bluegrass band ever and they looked like they were having SO MUCH FUN on stage. One highlight was 'Cold Chicago', a foot-stomping ode to getting back to the Windy City that has the most satisfying bum-chick driving rhythm about it. The other stand-out was 'Great Divide', a song that spoke to me about wanderlust, being on the cusp of something, and choosing adventure. I particularly like this sequence: "If we don't try to go/ We may never know/ What were were built to be/ Only we can decide". I have listened to their 'Revelries' album approximately a bajillion times since this show; they're just such fun, upbeat, modern Americana. And I loved it. Plus, they played a banging cover to JT Money's 'My Love', all slinky fiddles and slide guitars. Their eight-ish song set was one of my favorites of the year.
We'll talk more about The Lone Bellow when I write about seeing them for a full show.
So, Kacey Musgraves. She is the most adorable, teeny, tiny, country Barbie that I have ever seen. I love her commitment to dressing like a rhinestone cowgirl. I love her "old school" country sound mixed with incredibly progressive lyrics. I had seen her at Outsidelands the year prior and been impressed; the indoor setting and longer set served her well. I found it charming that she kept thanking the audience for being there even though she was still playing mostly material from her 'Same Trailer Different Park' album, which is a couple years old 'Pageant Material' would come out the following month.
She toed the line between foot stomper and tear jerker. In the the former category, 'Stupid' was one of my favorites - from the "whoa-oh-oh-oh" chorus sing along to the heart-warming sentiment of "Stupid, love is stupid/ Don't know why we always do it/ Finally find it just to lose it/ Always wind up looking stupid". 'Blowing Smoke' was also excellent, all angry guitars, a tale of frustration.
She also chatted with the crowd, telling some delightful stories. My favorite was about how she'd gone for a run that morning with $40 in her pocket so she could stop at Walgreens and stock up on "the necessities": fake eyelashes, deodorant, and hair spray. Apparently, she was a couple dollars short and someone at Walgreens bailed her out. She talked a lot about "the good people of Oakland" as a result.
So much of Musgraves' music is rooted in this notion that it's hard to get out, that dreaming bigger than the tiny town you're from often leads to discontentment. It all has such a sense of wistfulness about it and maybe because I grew up in a tiny town and had big dreams of getting out, I get it. One of my favorite lines comes from her song 'Merry Go Round' - "Just like dust, we settle in this town." In the next verse she notes, [it] "Ain't what you want, it's what you know." I often joke that when I left Caton to move to Buffalo (a scant three hours away), my family all thought that I moved "to the big city" and that they'd never see me again. When I moved to California, I may as well have moved to the moon. The majority of people I'm related to live within 20 miles of where they were born. If I were a different person, it would have been easy to settle like dust in Corning. I'm glad I didn't but it was my life's mission not to and as such, I understand the yearning for more that shines through in so many of these songs.
The set closing 'My House' (with special guests Humming House and the Lone Bellow!) proved that even a song about a camper can make me emotional if it includes the line, "Anywhere beside you is a place that I'll call home," adding another data point to my long-documented issue with the word 'home'. The set was also peppered with fun covers - Miranda Lambert's 'Mama's Broken Heart' and Nancy Sinatra's 'These Boots Were Made for Walking' most notably.
The encore was a delight, with long awaited 'Arrow' causing a giant sing along and an overwhelming impulse for everyone in the crowd to let their freak flag fly. Then, she closed with the always delightful 'Happy Trails' to send us all on our way after an absolutely delightful evening.
When: April 25, 2015
Where: Fox Theater/ Oakland, CA
With: Alex
Of Note: HUMMING HOUSE!!!
2015 was a year in which I traveled a lot. Too much, maybe. Anyway, traveling that much is how I ended up waking up after four days in NYC and a full week in Chicago, flying from Chicago to SFO, and heading straight to a restaurant across the street from the Fox. And I still didn't yawn during the concert as much as Alex, despite the fact that I'd been awake since approximately 4am PST. I am a beast.
Alex loooooves the Lone Bellow, which is (I think) mostly why we went to this show but, HOLY HELL HUMMING HOUSE. Humming House were the first opener and were the most amazing, high energy, poppy side of bluegrass band ever and they looked like they were having SO MUCH FUN on stage. One highlight was 'Cold Chicago', a foot-stomping ode to getting back to the Windy City that has the most satisfying bum-chick driving rhythm about it. The other stand-out was 'Great Divide', a song that spoke to me about wanderlust, being on the cusp of something, and choosing adventure. I particularly like this sequence: "If we don't try to go/ We may never know/ What were were built to be/ Only we can decide". I have listened to their 'Revelries' album approximately a bajillion times since this show; they're just such fun, upbeat, modern Americana. And I loved it. Plus, they played a banging cover to JT Money's 'My Love', all slinky fiddles and slide guitars. Their eight-ish song set was one of my favorites of the year.
We'll talk more about The Lone Bellow when I write about seeing them for a full show.
So, Kacey Musgraves. She is the most adorable, teeny, tiny, country Barbie that I have ever seen. I love her commitment to dressing like a rhinestone cowgirl. I love her "old school" country sound mixed with incredibly progressive lyrics. I had seen her at Outsidelands the year prior and been impressed; the indoor setting and longer set served her well. I found it charming that she kept thanking the audience for being there even though she was still playing mostly material from her 'Same Trailer Different Park' album, which is a couple years old 'Pageant Material' would come out the following month.
She toed the line between foot stomper and tear jerker. In the the former category, 'Stupid' was one of my favorites - from the "whoa-oh-oh-oh" chorus sing along to the heart-warming sentiment of "Stupid, love is stupid/ Don't know why we always do it/ Finally find it just to lose it/ Always wind up looking stupid". 'Blowing Smoke' was also excellent, all angry guitars, a tale of frustration.
She also chatted with the crowd, telling some delightful stories. My favorite was about how she'd gone for a run that morning with $40 in her pocket so she could stop at Walgreens and stock up on "the necessities": fake eyelashes, deodorant, and hair spray. Apparently, she was a couple dollars short and someone at Walgreens bailed her out. She talked a lot about "the good people of Oakland" as a result.
So much of Musgraves' music is rooted in this notion that it's hard to get out, that dreaming bigger than the tiny town you're from often leads to discontentment. It all has such a sense of wistfulness about it and maybe because I grew up in a tiny town and had big dreams of getting out, I get it. One of my favorite lines comes from her song 'Merry Go Round' - "Just like dust, we settle in this town." In the next verse she notes, [it] "Ain't what you want, it's what you know." I often joke that when I left Caton to move to Buffalo (a scant three hours away), my family all thought that I moved "to the big city" and that they'd never see me again. When I moved to California, I may as well have moved to the moon. The majority of people I'm related to live within 20 miles of where they were born. If I were a different person, it would have been easy to settle like dust in Corning. I'm glad I didn't but it was my life's mission not to and as such, I understand the yearning for more that shines through in so many of these songs.
The set closing 'My House' (with special guests Humming House and the Lone Bellow!) proved that even a song about a camper can make me emotional if it includes the line, "Anywhere beside you is a place that I'll call home," adding another data point to my long-documented issue with the word 'home'. The set was also peppered with fun covers - Miranda Lambert's 'Mama's Broken Heart' and Nancy Sinatra's 'These Boots Were Made for Walking' most notably.
The encore was a delight, with long awaited 'Arrow' causing a giant sing along and an overwhelming impulse for everyone in the crowd to let their freak flag fly. Then, she closed with the always delightful 'Happy Trails' to send us all on our way after an absolutely delightful evening.
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