James at The Showbox

We went to a show Saturday night at The Showbox (at the Market), which is one of Curly’s favorite venues. Some of the best concerts she has ever been to were at that little night club (http://www.showboxonline.com/), and this one was among the best. Friday night we were looking at the movie listings at http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Home, which is the most concise and complete list of movie times and reviews in the Seattle area, in Curly’s opinion, when an ad along the side caught Curly’s eye.

James (http://www.wearejames.com/) was playing at The Showbox the very next night and tickets were still available! In all honesty, Curly hasn’t heard a great deal of their newer albums, but one of her very favorite albums off all time is Laid, and Bee knows how much Curly loves a good show so he was willing to take a chance and go. As a side note, Bee has been to about 5 times more concerts in the 3 years that he’s known Curly, than he had in his entire life up to that point. Sadly, Curly has been feeling tired and old lately, now that she’s married and 30, so we haven’t been to too many shows recently. But how could she pass up this opportunity?

OK, she did call her brother in California first to get his opinion before she purchased tickets – Ticketmaster gouges you with their fees, and it was too late to go to the box office, so she wanted to be sure James would be worth the money.  Just a word of advice: Will call is an awesome option if you’re buying tickets kind of late in the game. Ticketmaster doesn’t charge an additional delivery fee for will call, but they do charge you to print the tickets out at home yourself. Of course, the best option is to go down to the venue’s box office, where you’ll only pay $2 or $3 dollars per ticket for a service fee, versus $10 per ticket at Ticketmaster or other ticket outlets. Hmm. Do you think we have an aversion to Ticketmaster’s large fees? Yea, we do.

We have to say, it was a really good show! One of the best things about it was that Curly could actually see the stage! As has been mentioned in previous posts, Curly is shorter than most folks. She doesn’t usually expect to see the stage or musicians very well when she goes to concerts. But we got there in time to find a spot on the raised level by the bar, so she could see over everyone’s heads! Perfect view of the stage! Bee’s a bit taller, so he doesn’t usually have a problem seeing the stage.

The band members have been playing together and performing for so long, that they have an amazing ease on the stage and enjoy interacting with the audience. Their music is great, and they’re able to change songs just enough when they play live, that you don’t feel like you’re just standing there listening to the CD, which is the mark of a really good musician. They played an excellent mix of old and new stuff. The audience sang along to several of the favorites which didn’t seem to annoy the singer (Time Booth), who by the way, is so much fun to watch. He started the show by coming in from behind the audience, so it took us a few seconds to realize where the singing was coming from. He jumped up onto the half-wall that separates the raised back portion of the venue from the main floor, sang there for a while then jumped down and walked through the crowd of people to the stage and jumped up on the stage to join his 6 other band mates. It was a great entrance. Not showy, just different and personal. He seems like a free spirit and dances like he’s just letting his body go and move however it feels inclined. It made us smile!

The only bummer of the evening was that we forgot the camera. No surprise there.

Oh, did you notice the disco ball eyes on the cat?