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makin' a list
Jun. 26th, 2003 01:09 amwell I think these two concerts will be on my top 10 list of 2003.
Norah Jones at Wolftrap - the girl was fantastic, and her band is awesome! They are truly musicians and if it hadn't been such an unusually cold night for June, I think we all would have stayed for a longer show. The played jazz, bluegrass, and a little rock and roll, with covers of Rolling Stones and AC/DC songs!
Dixie Chicks at MCI Center - these ladies rocked the house! Again, backed by a very talented band, they managed to make an arena full of people feel like they were getting a personal concert. The round stage, in the shape of the US, allowed the girls to walk around and face every side of the MCI Center (very similar to the heart-shaped stage of U2's Elevation tour). They have huge screens which had images of not just them on stage, but atmospheric images, like green leaves, flowers, snow, rain, stars. And the walkway itself projected images that gave the songs a little more meaning.
Prior to them taking the stage, they played Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" over the PA system. I feel like this was deliberate. Not only was Springsteen one of the first and only other musicians to stand up for Natalie after the "incident" this year, but "Born in the USA" was embraced by America even though it's lyrics are not exactly patriotic.
I cried a couple times. They played a song off of the new album, I'm not sure of the title, but Natalie intro'd it as a song that had even more meaning for her after people started to harass her and her family and friends (again, after the "incident"). But while they were playing it, they showed images of protest in the US through out the years, Civil Rights for African Americans, Women, Gays and Lesbians, with words like "TRUTH", "SPEAK UP", "SHUT UP" projected in intervals. They also had a clip of the Beatles album burnings which took place after John's mis-quoted "Bigger than Jesus" statement followed by images of kids stomping on copies of "Fly" and "wide open spaces". For some reason, all of those images, and the melody of that song made me sad. How much we talk about freedom in America and how much we still need to perfect the system. And the state of things today does not give me a feeling of confidence that we will keep being progressive in our ideals.
Later they did "wide open spaces" and my mom was with me and we had been talking about me moving out while riding into the MCI Center. So when that song started to play, I got a lump in my throat and wondered if mom was listening to the words. I know she knows them by heart, but I was wondering if she was connecting the lyrics to me or not. I hope so.
She needs wide open spaces
room to make her big mistakes
she needs new faces
she knows how high the stakes
Norah Jones at Wolftrap - the girl was fantastic, and her band is awesome! They are truly musicians and if it hadn't been such an unusually cold night for June, I think we all would have stayed for a longer show. The played jazz, bluegrass, and a little rock and roll, with covers of Rolling Stones and AC/DC songs!
Dixie Chicks at MCI Center - these ladies rocked the house! Again, backed by a very talented band, they managed to make an arena full of people feel like they were getting a personal concert. The round stage, in the shape of the US, allowed the girls to walk around and face every side of the MCI Center (very similar to the heart-shaped stage of U2's Elevation tour). They have huge screens which had images of not just them on stage, but atmospheric images, like green leaves, flowers, snow, rain, stars. And the walkway itself projected images that gave the songs a little more meaning.
Prior to them taking the stage, they played Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" over the PA system. I feel like this was deliberate. Not only was Springsteen one of the first and only other musicians to stand up for Natalie after the "incident" this year, but "Born in the USA" was embraced by America even though it's lyrics are not exactly patriotic.
I cried a couple times. They played a song off of the new album, I'm not sure of the title, but Natalie intro'd it as a song that had even more meaning for her after people started to harass her and her family and friends (again, after the "incident"). But while they were playing it, they showed images of protest in the US through out the years, Civil Rights for African Americans, Women, Gays and Lesbians, with words like "TRUTH", "SPEAK UP", "SHUT UP" projected in intervals. They also had a clip of the Beatles album burnings which took place after John's mis-quoted "Bigger than Jesus" statement followed by images of kids stomping on copies of "Fly" and "wide open spaces". For some reason, all of those images, and the melody of that song made me sad. How much we talk about freedom in America and how much we still need to perfect the system. And the state of things today does not give me a feeling of confidence that we will keep being progressive in our ideals.
Later they did "wide open spaces" and my mom was with me and we had been talking about me moving out while riding into the MCI Center. So when that song started to play, I got a lump in my throat and wondered if mom was listening to the words. I know she knows them by heart, but I was wondering if she was connecting the lyrics to me or not. I hope so.
She needs wide open spaces
room to make her big mistakes
she needs new faces
she knows how high the stakes
