09 May 2006

from Marie from Brooklyn

Last night's gig was a lot of fun. Very enthusiastic audience - I was pleased about that, since it was also a very SMALL audience, only about 500 people, which was a sell-out in the tiny club. I didn't realize Jamie had so many enthusiastic fans in south Florida - he mentioned that he had seldon been there before. The opener, Raul Midon, was just terrific - major talent, fantastic voice and guitarist, played solo and wowed the crowd. Very, very enjoyable - wonderful musician, wonderful music. (In fact, Jamie remarked when he came onstage, "There aren't many opening acts who make you feel like going home to practice!" Humble and sweet to the last, and so generous to other musicians, our Jamie!) It was a standing-room-only club, my favorite kind of Jamie venue. Between getting there three hours before the doors opened and waiting for Jamie near the tour bus after the gig, I calculated that I was standing for about nine hours total! Nothing but Jamie could entice me to do that without complaint! But it's always a good time, hanging out and talking to other fans before a Jamie gig. As I say, the audience was really enthusiastic. At one point, Jamie said he was going to sing a song he had never sung before - ALWAYS a treat! He said it was for his Mum, who was feeling poorly; it was, he said, her favorite song. He started playing some lovely chords, but I didn't know where he was going with it; when he started singing, and I realized it was "Some Other Time," a very beautiful song from the musical "On The Town" by Leonard Bernstein, I gasped out loud, and actually started crying. Jamie retains the power to move me profoundly! It was an incredibly sensitive and beautiful performance, and as I said, very special, because it's something we'd never heard from Jamie before, and such things are very rare and delightful. After the song, before the applause started, I shouted, "That was GORGEOUS, honey" - I was right up front, so he must have heard me. Very fun show - hot and humid and crowded, but while I can't tolerate such conditions anywhere else, for Jamie, I really don't mind at all! I love being up so close to the stage, right in front; I noticed again how Jamie reacts to the crowd's enthusiasm, the little grin that comes over his face when the crowd shouts its approval of something, as with the roar that came up when he started singing "Frontin' ", and when, as he always does, he led the crowd in 2-part harmony for "High & Dry," and we really did sound very good; you can tell he really meant it when he said, "That sounds GREAT!" Sam was very much missed - which is in NO way meant to take away from the fabulous musicianship of the rest of the guys, of course! Tom played a wonderful solo on "Frontin' ", and Seb did his "drumming-all-over-every-surface" thing - which couldn't have been easy on such a little stage! The band never, ever disappoints - and I can say that on the basis of having seen 6 full gigs, and one mini in-store gig, since last October, so I do know what I'm talking about! If Jamie had a residency in some club in new York, you can bet I'd be there at least once every week! After the show, my friends and I made our way over to wait by the tour bus. Still hot and humid, but I was prepared to wait for as long as I had to to see Jamie and say hello. Plus, I always want to thank him for the show! It was just the 4 of us waiting - the smallest "crowd" afterwards yet that I've been part of; at one point, Danny, Jamie's tour manager, came by on his way into the bus, and I remarked, "Rather small crowd waiting tonight, isn't it?" He laughed, and said, "He'll come out," to which I replied, "Oh, I know he will!" Sooner or later, the band started trickling out, and last of all, of course, Jamie, with Geoff. When Jamie came over my way, I went over to greet him; gracious as always, since he'd taken a little longer than usual to come out, he said, "I didn't realize you were waiting for me!" I told him that was OK, and we started chatting. I thanked him and told him how much I'd enjoyed his singing the Bernstein song, although it was sad that he'd sung it because his mother was ill. "She'll be OK," he said, "it's such a beautiful song!" "Yes, it is," I said, "you really can do anything, can't you?" he looked a little humble at that, like, Oh, come off it - you know how self-effacing he can be! Such a sweetheart! Jamie asked if I was coming to any more shows; I told him the next ones I'd be at, and he thanked me for coming to so many shows - "Aw, it's amazing how much support I get!", to which I told him he deserved it. We said goodnight, and I thanked him again for the good show, and off we went. Another evening of Jamie magic - can never have too many!