February 4, 2010
by Krista De La Rosa
Yesterday, February 3rd, I saw JBM and Sondre Lerche. Yesterday, February 3rd, I died as many times as one could while being serenaded by two of the most handsome men to walk the face of this earth. Yesterday, February 3rd, I experienced my favorite show I have been to within the past 12 years of going to shows. Meaning, out of the hundreds and hundreds of shows and concerts I’ve been to, this has definitely been my favorite. Yes, this even beats when I got to see Arcade Fire and Arctic Monkeys in England, London a few years back.
I’ll start with JBM. Now, I hate to say this, but until I purchased my ticket, I had never heard of JBM. It sounds so familiar in my folk world, but I was never graced upon hearing his music and knowing it was him. Weeks before last night, I tried collecting as much information on JBM that I could get. Instantly, I fell in love. But, you know, there’s always such a huge difference hearing them through my amp I blare music with- than hearing them live and in the flesh. As soon as my eyes found JBM, I instantly fell in love.
Let’s rewind a little bit: this show was taking place at The Parish in Austin, Tx. I live about an hour and half from Austin. The doors were to open by 8 pm. My best friend and I left our city at around 5:30 pm. Poor choice, of course, because we are in the middle of traffic. That’s what music is for, though. As we made our way to Austin, we then picked probably the worst parking garage to park. Minus the creepy man who we paid 6 dollars to, we realized that we were about 2 miles away from The Parish. Mind you, it is lightly drizzling and pretty fucking cold. MIND YOU, I GOT SICK the day before the show. So, being out in the rain and cold just isn’t the greatest way to cure ones sickness. Okay. We get to The Parish a little past 7 pm. There is a short line already. We wait in the line, outside in the rainy cold, and we wait for the doors to open. The doors open, we get out tickets ready. We go up the stairs and enter the main stage of the venue. I hurry and get a spot near the right amp in the front. Okay, let’s fast forward now.
JBM takes the stage. His brown, messy hair that is almost as beautiful as his face- is the first thing I see. As if his flannel shirt didn’t add any more charm to him, he picked up his guitar and started playing it peacefully. The first song he played was “Years” off his Not Even In July record. This song is purely acoustic. This song is purely beautiful. This song made me fucking weak in the knees. But then, ohhh but then, he started playing another song. A song with words. As soon as I heard his voice, my stomach dropped. I mean, holy God, it was so beautiful. It fit him so perfectly. His voice fit his face. Does that even make sense? If you ever see him live, it will. As if the audience wasn’t swooned already, he walked over to a half drum set and started playing, while strumming his guitar, and singing. My God. MY GOD. JBM is GOD. Later throughout his set, he got out his harmonica. Oh, yes, the harmonica neck holder. As he played his guitar, sang, and then blew in his harmonica, my life exploded. I died. I literally died. Well, not so literally, but you know. Throughout his entire set, I would lose my breathe with his beauty and talent. JBM introduces folk onto a whole other level of awesomeness. Did I mention he is charming?
Sondre Lerche. Sondre fucking Lerche. I never thought I would see this gentleman live. NEVER. He is from Norway. HE IS
BEAUTIFUL. I thought I would only write about him and listen to his music, but never did I ever think I’d see him live. This man has the best personality I have ever encountered. It shines so bright. His accent just adds on to it. He cracks jokes. He laughs. He smiles. He makes the strangest facial expressions. Most of all, he is so passionate about music. Within his first song, he broke his guitar string by “jamming” too hard. I mean, COME ON, does it get any better than that? Lerche performed a lengthy set filled with laughter and sing alongs with the audience. Austin crowd adored him. Lerche adored us. You could see from his eyes and expressions how delighted he got when we, as an entire crowd, started singing along with him. There was a point where he asked the crowd, “Do you guys want to dance or mope?” The entire room yelled, “MOPE! MOPE!” That just blew my mind. Moping with Sondre Lerche is a happening that only so many people get to experience. I will never be able to put into words how happy I was that night.
After his encore ended, my best friend and I waited for the crown to die down. About half an hour to an hour later, most of the crowd had left. We then make our way to Sondre Lerche. A few minutes later, there he is. Right in front of me. IN THE FLESH. Sitting down on some table, he looks at us with those blue eyes that literally make you weak in every part of your body. He smiled. He talked. We took a picture. We talked some more. There was not that many people behind us, so we took our time. We shook hands. We laughed. We touched. WE TOUCHED.
As my best friend and I left the venue, we didn’t know how else to react. We were speechless. We were….dead. It had started raining a little heavier and neither of us had an umbrella or a hood. It was freezing and the streets were wet and we were parked 2 miles away from this venue. As we held each other and walked in the cold rain, we could not get over the fact that everything that had happened….had really, really happened. Listening to JBM and Sondre Lerche up close and personal and getting to meet them afterwards (I bought JBM album and have listened to nothing else since!) just about summed up our entire lives.
It is safe to say the the JBM & Sondre Lerche show made my entire life.
Check out photos of JBM set here.
Check out photos of Sondre Lerche set here.
It’s so awesome when you can throw on an album and listen to it completely and entirely. Whats even awesom’er is when the album makes you want to listen to it on repeat and it hooks you and has you hypnotized, and you can’t stop listening to it, you’re getting your fill, and when it ends you want more. For the last week or so, Dream Get Together by Citay has filled my ears with its full band sound, melodic tunes, and long instrumental pieces doing just that, making me want more, making my ears smile. I’ve been listening to the lo-fi/acoustic/trio at max bands as of lately so i forgot what it was like to listen to a full band. I forgot the jamming, the rocking out, the emotions entwined, the layers it has to go through to come together. In Dream Get Together they do this all as if effortlessly. Awesome guitar patterns, riffs, and solo’s, along with steady drumming, and soft basses, they throw in synths and mandolins, maracas from time to time. It’s nice to note that this band can start from a folk-rock intro and transition beautifully into an almost showgaze ending and that they are meticulous about it. So I’ve forgotten to mention anything about the vocals but they are also magnificent and appropriate. I’m looking forward to a live show.
