I saw Marcia Ball at the Mint last Friday. Marcia is a blues piano player and singer from Louisiana and while I have one of her CDs, I had never seen her live. A friend saw her at Jazzfest in New Orleans, saw that she was playing the Mint, and hooked me into going. Glad I did because she was really really good live.
But the real point of this post is that it's such a joy to be able to be close to see and feel the passion and enjoyment the performer is feeling. I almost can't go see the big stadium shows any more except when I've got the feeling that if I don't, I'll never get to see an act again, like the Rolling Stones... What if Keith had killed himself falling out of that tree and I had never made it to a show? So when they played Dodger stadium last year, I had to suck it up and pay the price.
But this year the Police are playing Dodger stadium and I did not bite that bullet. Why? Because I saw them at the Tacoma Dome in 1984 on the Synchronicity tour and it was and is one of the best shows I ever saw. So I'm going to skip the rehash tour. Unless someone gives me a free ticket, I suppose.
Back to the point... I love the little venues. I love being able to walk up the guitarist and strike up a conversation about amps and guitars. After the show Friday night, I did just that and found Marcia's guitarist was using the same amp I have at home and he sounded amazing through it. So there's hope for me!
I've had lots of little moments like that here in LaLa land. It's one of those things I would really miss if I went anywhere else. There are so many great venues to see music (even when the sound is bad, which was not the case at The Mint).
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Couldn't agree more, although I am going to see the Police (first time.) For the most part big stadium shows have very little appeal. I'll take a lesser known artist at a small venue almost every time over the big name at a huge venue. The big venues are fine for artists with massive video or special effect shows but when it's just about the music they fall flat.