We don't all fall down

Forgive me, but I can't stop, because some beautiful, beautiful human taped the whole Vermont show and then torrented it last night, so now I'm listening to it, and it has reminded me of a thing. (Mad props to vanark for the recording and the sharing and the generally being awesome. If I had seen you there, I would have hugged you. And scared you, probably.)

Every single show, before they do "Folsom Prison Blues," Brandi goes, "[City]? Do you mind if we get a little bit country on you?" Boston? Burlington? (She, however, did not say "Hampton Beach? Do you mind..." Just "Do you mind..." But that's okay. I forgive her, because seriously. Hampton Beach is laaaame.) Anyway, it's adorable. I think she actually said, "Burlington, Vermont? Do you mind..." Like the whole thing, city and state, which I just find funny, because it sounds like a first name/last name thing. But there are a million Burlingtons in this country, so you have to specify. There's only one Boston, though (that matters).

Also, at some point, some lesbian yelled, "I love you, Brandi!" (like, surprise), and then after "Have You Ever," this same lesbian yelled, "I still love you!" which is the one Brandi heard, and she was like, "What? You still love me? Despite the fact that my band has mustaches, is that what you mean?" It was hilarious. For me, anyway. And Brandi was laughing. So there.

Oh, she was picking on Phil all night. Before "Turpentine," she was, like, "I'm gonna ask you all to sing along with me. But you gotta do it loud! Trust me, you'll like it. Let me lead you down this path. ... Don't let Phil lead you down any paths." And they were both giggling. Which you cannot hear on this recording, obv, but I saw the whole thing, and it cracked me up. Also, now it kind of makes me sad, the way she says, "You gotta do it loud!" Because Boston totally let her down. The Boston show was so weird, because obviously, everyone was going crazy for her, and she was awesome, but it was so quiet in between songs, it made her nervous, and then everyone totally punked out on the "Turpentine" harmonies, which I did not expect. At least Vermont cooperated and made Brandi feel better. Also, I am totally singing on this recording. Awesome. (Can't hear it or anything, but I know I'm in there, badly doing Brandi's part.) Everyone always laughs when we get to Phil's part, because his is the highest. It's fun. Good thing the shows are always almost entirely female.

She said something on Sunday too, about this being her favorite kind of show--she clearly feels much more comfortable in the nightclub/bar atmosphere. And I like that better, too. But when people do nightclub/bar performances in Boston, they do them at the Avalon, and the show has to end at ten because it turns into a dance club some indeterminate time after ten. And that sucks. And is what happened when Brandi performed at the Avalon. She loved it, I loved it, but it ended too early. Regina, too, when she was at the Avalon, even made a comment about how if they didn't have to turn the place into a hip nightclub, she'd play all night for us, because seriously, no one shows love like a Boston crowd at the Avalon. Stupid Avalon.

Anyway, I get the feeling that the Orpheum totally freaked her out. But she saw how Boston loved her, and I think that's what matters, right?

So in Vermont, some lez kept screaming, "It's Jody's birthday!" and Brandi finally heard her and was very sweet and wished Jody a happy birthday, and then she asked if there was anything Jody wanted them to play for her. And Jody blew it! I don't know what happened, but I heard Brandi say, "Oh now you've got nothing to say!" And then she listened and said, "Okay, in a bit, all right?" or something. Like, what the eff, Jody? If Brandi Carlile asked me if there was a song she and the boys could play for my birthday, I would be like, "Yes! I have a list. Here." Okay, not really, but I would at least try to request a song not on the setlist. I would be like, "Yes, can you play 'Over You'? Or 'The Clock'? Oh! Or 'Fall'? Or, um, 'Downpour.'" Because "Downpour" was not on the setlist, and it is my favorite Brandi song, and she would at least mos' def remember how to play it. Who knows if she would have actually played an extra song, but I would have at least tried. Way to drop the ball, Jody.
Boston pictures are cleaned up a bit, finally. Not as good as the Vermont ones, but I got more of the band in Boston. And a few of Tiffany, who came out after I gave up taking pictures in Vermont.