The Death Cab Report

I'm deferring this post to Matt. Because although I thoroughly enjoyed the concert, I'm not a specialist in critiquing music etc. But he is. An extra special HUGE thanks to That Redheaded Chick for hooking us up with the tickets.

Matt's turn- Yes, thank you to the Redhead. Warning to all, this post will probably bore the vast majority of you since I am at the helm. I think Kendra has deferred to me because generally I am the one with the strong musical opinions. I, like Kendra, thoroughly enjoyed the show. Great locale, hot date, and a band ready to rock is always a good thing. Radio City in all of its art deco splendor really is a fantastic venue- there is a little bit of an awe factor involved just walking in. I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of production. Those familiar with Death Cab know that their albums have a precise, pristine quality that would never be confused with say an analog recording with everyone in the same room playing. Think, we just cut this record on a computer with one guy doing most of the work- even though that is not how they do it. That said, these guys played and sounded like a rock band. Benjamin Gibbard's (the band's singer/guitarist/keyboardist and I suppose primary songwriter) voice sounded exactly the same as on record. No studio tricks. The band also played with much more rock and roll abandon (their records seem to be moving this way as well), which was right up my alley. Side note for any guitarists: both guitar players get kudos for plugging into Dr. Z cabinets with what appeared to be Dr. Z and custom heads (Dr. Z is one of the finest boutique amp makers specializing in AC-30 style flame throwers- I hope to own one someday). It was just great to hear four guys play great for two hours without huge video monitors, pyrotechics, and hired guns to make them sound similar to their records. It was a fun time for all. Also, apologies to the couple behind us in the photo- her face is screaming, "I know I'm in this picture and there's nothing I can do about it". Welcome to the blog both of you. Hasta logo.






There's a good article here about the band, if you're interested.

Death Cab For Cutie

October 6th at Radio City Music Hall.... and we'll be there!

My Heart Will Go On....

Last week, my mother was approached by a co-worker of hers offering her two tickets to the Celine Dion concert in NYC at Madison Square Garden (her first time in NYC in 10 years!) Mom called me and asked if I wanted to go, and although I'm not a die-hard Celine fan, but I know and love many of her songs and heard she puts on a great show. So I was excited about the chance to see her. My mother forwarded me the email with the tickets and we looked up the venue map to locate our seats and were ecstatic when we realized we were on the floor. In the fourth row. It was awesome. I have never been that close at any concert I have ever been to (and the number of concerts I've been to can be numbered on 2 hands).


At one point in the middle of Because You Loved Me, Ms. Dion stopped and told us a story about a girl Charice that she had met through Oprah a few weeks before. Here's the story. Then, Ms. Dion told us Charice was there and invited her up on stage. Celine gave her some advice to get over the nerves ("Just pretend all these people are your family and that you are singing in your living room") to which the whole arena cheered. Then they dedicated the song to Charice's mother. Celine sang one line and then Charice took over and "blew the roof off of Madison Square Garden" (Celine's words). I took some video footage, but during most of the song they had their backs to us, so you can see better footage of the song here. Charice's voice is absolutely incredible. And it's even better in person.

Of course, what's a Celine Dion concert without that song from Titanic, My Heart Will Go On? She sang that has her final encore of the evening. Here's some footage of that, if you're interested.


Montel Williams was less than 20 feet from us. (That's his wife's head just above the "76" and he's on her right side).
And we saw her husband/manager as we were leaving the arena:

Thanks to the lady from Pepsi who gifted us the tickets! It was fabulous.