Its dark in a crowded room of 1000 anxious fans. The drummer is laying down a sweet beat as another guy is doing a really cool number on the electric. Anticipation is building, we’ve been waiting 3 hours for what will be 90 minutes of incredible live music. Issac Slade, lead singer of The Fray walks down the back stairs of the Gypsy Tea Room’s large venue and the crowd goes balistic. He sits down at his shiney black baby grand piano and plays.
Sold out crowd. So sold out that none of my friends were able to get tickets. But I couldn’t miss this night. This was it. After this tour the Fray would move on to bigger and better venues and I’ll have to enjoy saying, "I remember when…" It took the Fray 14 months to get a million plays on their Myspace page. 3 weeks to get to 2 million. And then only 11 days to get to 3. They are now the #1 played band on Myspace and there is a reason. They are good.
1 song into the concert an amp blows and they need a filler. So Issac says, "I was going to wait until later for ‘Show & Tell’ but I guess I can do it now." He proceeds to share with the crowd that he bought boots from a bona fide cowboy in Colorado and was handed down a vintage belt buckle from his grandpa. What better way to show off the goods then get UP ON the baby grand piano and lift your jeans up to your knees revealing not only a very cool pair of jeans but pastey white legs.
People never cease to amaze me. Airports, State Fairs, and now live concerts display the human race in its finest. People upset and wanting to fight over standing in the space in front of me and blocking our view. Come on people! We’re jammed in like sardines and we’re worried about comfort? How about lets complain that the tempature has risen to 104 degrees? Camera phones were the main attraction as half the crowd was looking for a new wallpaper. My phone does not have photo taking abilities but I was STILL able to get the same picture everyone else got. Check it out below. Actually that is a photo at the Coldplay concert. Picture courtesy of Skip. But I promise, its looks EXACTLY the same.
I love group singing. I guess thats why corporate worship is so great. Or maybe its because if everyone is singing really loud then you can’t tell that I sound alot like William Hung. At one point Issac is rockin’ the ivories and has everyone singing the chorus to "Look After You"
Oh, oh,
Be my baby
Ohhhhh
Oh, oh
Be my baby
I’ll look after you
And while the crowd sings slow, and I yack like an old cat, Issac soulfully sings:
You are so beautiful, to me
We keep singing, and Issac keeps singing and the combination is brillant. And then we stop only to have Mr Slade finish it off with nothing but him and the baby grand:
Can’t you see, baby You’re everything I hoped for
You’re everything I need
You are so beautiful to me
You are so beautiful to me
Does it get better than a little Joe Cocker with the Fray? I think not. So it was definite good times. Its all very interesting though. People that is. Listening to everyone sing. The chants. The screams. I even had 2 girls before the show who couldn’t get tickets into the concert give me their CD cover and wanted me to try and get it signed. I of course made no attempt to make that happen as there were 999 other people who wanted it just a tad more than I did. But this skinny smoker wanted just a piece…just anything. Its a hunger and a desire that can only be described with one word. Worship.
So I’m walking to my car at midnight with my ear drums still pounding and it hits me. Its in us. Worship. Its in everyone, really deep. The choice every day we wake up to is: what will we worship?
SB
