Jonny Be Good

Last night saw Jonny Lang at the House of Blues in Anaheim. I like the venue, although every time I see a show there, you always end up standing in line forever, then waiting forever for the show to begin. But, you do what you gotta do, I guess.

The show opened with Yvonne Reyes who has an absolutely amazing voice, and good songs. But if I could’ve given her one piece of advice, it would’ve been this: the next time you’re planning on standing on stage where there will most likely be stage lights shining, don’t wear a sheer skirt. Or wear a slip. Just a thought.

Ingram Hill was next up. Not impressed. They came out to MJ’s “Beat It” which I still don’t understand. The bass player looked like he belonged in 1968 with his long hair and tight bell bottomed jeans. The guitar player jumped around inexplicably while doing his own variation of the running man the ENTIRE set. The drummer just looked bored and I forgot he was there. The lead singer has a great voice live, but the fact that none of them looked like they were in the same band, it threw everything off for me. Not one of Memphis’ finest products, although they ended the set with their version of “Suspicious Minds” in tribute to The King.

Jonny was amazing of course. It's my 4th time seeing him and I'm never disappointed. We were three people deep, and in within spitting distance of his huge mouth. He’s always kind of frightened me because when he launches into a guitar solo, he tends to look demon-possessed where his eyes roll back into his head and his face contorts into things I never could imagine a face could look like. But he shreds and has a great band, and is so appreciative and thankful for the crowd, you forget the scariness. First time I’ve heard him play “Livin for the City” live (except for the live version on the CD), and it’s the coolest thing when he plays “I Love You Lord” on the acoustic right before "Breakin’ Me”. It’s the second time I’ve seen him do it, and it’s kinda cool that he incorporates his newfound faith into his shows, as subtle as the display might be. To most, it’s just a pretty little song he picks out on his guitar… but to the rest of us, it’s… I dunno… comforting.

I do have to briefly touch on a few highlights of the night that did not take place on stage. First was the girl who sang along to ALL of Ingram Hill’s songs and knew NONE of the words. One of my fascinations is people-watching, and I could not stop staring at this girl who kept mouthing all the wrong words, and would once in a while just happen to stumble upon the right word. Why did she feel the need to sing along when it was so obvious she’d never heard any of their stuff before? Was she trying to show how much she liked them? Who cares??? It cracked me up and provided me with something to do during their set. Second was the drunk girl who had pushed her way through to the front using the old “I’m looking for someone” routine. She spent the entire show dancing to the music playing in her head and yelling completely inappropriate things at the top of her lungs. She spilled her drink (which was wisely switched to water at some point) on my friend Isabelle numerous times, and at one point spilled it on herself and got so mad that “someone” would throw water on her. (Her own arm jerked up on its’ own. We witnessed the water splash up and out ourselves). She also kept insisting that we put our arms in the air because we would “feel so free”. Umm… no thanks. But the third (AND BEST) highlight was the crazy girl who seemed so sweet and innocent at the beginning. She stood behind us the entire night, and even followed directly behind us once we got closer to the stage. She kept leaning on my back all night, and I finally had to tell her she couldn’t do that anymore because it was really annoying. She had mentioned something about her family knowing Jonny’s and there had been some disagreement so their families didn’t like each other now, and she was hoping Jonny wouldn’t see her. YET… she goes to every single one of his shows whenever she can and got as close to the stage as possible. (?!) Throughout his entire set she screamed as loud as she could and said things like, “I know you hate me Jonny, but I love you!” She also sang as loud as possible every single word to every song – in my ear. Once we got a little more spread out, she took her hair down and began to fling her head around and make faces that looked like someone who might be doing an imitation of a cross between Billy Idol and Zoolander. Very scary.

All-in-all a very memorable night. I always tend to have very memorable times with Isabelle and last night was no exception. I was so tired and my back hurt so bad from standing in one place for 4+ hours, and we had to wait to exit the parking lot for another 45 mins or so after the show. Oh well.. We got our Jonny fix until the next time comes around…