Greetings to all...
This past weekend I went up to Clinton, NY at Hamilton College to see Dar. Ana Egge opened for her. There was also another opening act - Courtney somebody or other whose last name escapes me - she did a very quick, hyper, 4 or 5 song set before Ana and I guess she was a former Hamilton student. She was pretty good I thought, but you could tell she was excited and honored to be opening for Ana and Dar. The show was sponsored by the college activities board and a couple campus women's groups.
It was a fantastic combination and I would encourage anyone in the vicinity of this tour to get out and see them. I'm going to say upfront that Ana was even better than I remember her being. I didn't write down set lists or anything, but here is what I remember her playing in no particular order:
I Am Illegal
Fairest of them All
Straight to my Head
Some song about an apple tree maybe?
Edelweiss
She played at least 2 or 3 other songs, maybe more, I just don't recall the titles or the songs. Unfortunately, there were a few times where there was some feedback and distortion during her singing. It was annoying, but it was a pleasure to see her perform even with the feedback. At the very start, she asked if anyone in the crowd had seen the show in Ithaca the night before. There was one person who shouted out. Then she said that 'for you, I'll try not to play the same songs I played last night.' She encouraged the crowd to join in on Edelweiss, spoke briefly about "Fairest.." being about her sister who is now in California, and talked about camping the night before in Ithaca and how different it was from living in Brooklyn. I think her set ran about 45 minutes, but I wasn't really paying attention - the time just flew by.
Then there was an intermission. Ana was out in the Lobby selling CD's and available for conversation. Unfortunately they only had copies of her album "Mile Marker" available for sale - I bought 2: one for me and one for my sister. I would have bought the others for myself had they been available. (I guess I'll just have to go to Brooklyn at some point and get them.)
After the intermission, Dar came on. She didn't have any issues with feedback or distortion through her whole set. She was amazing as usual. She talked about her past visits to Hamilton College and how the shows related to her life. The first time she was there, she was relatively unknown, and she recalled her disappointment that nobody there really cared that her babysitter moved to Kirkland (about 2 miles outside of Clinton). She talked about how the last time she was there, it was Valentine's Day and she had brought her boyfriend (now husband) with her. Now, this time, she's had her first kid and married and all that. When she finally played "The Babysitter's Here" everybody applauded and cheered, and she paused - delighted at the response - and said that now she'd come full circle, a healing circle, from the very first time she played at Hamilton. (it was a lot more natural to hear from her than to write down here.) Anyway... She didn't say much of anything political except for one quick plug for VotePair.com (or org or whatever). She said something like "Please don't let people in the swing states vote for Nader."
Periodically through the show, during breaks between the songs and such people were shouting out requests. She played a few of them and some others which must have been requested beforehand.
So here is what I remember she played in no particular order:
Fishing In The Morning
The Babysitter's Here
Iowa (crowd request - she got everyone to sing the chorus)
Southern California Wants to Be Western NY (another request - She warned in advance that she handn't played the song in a long time and she flubbed a few lines, but no one minded. It was all good.)
Another Mystery
Christians & The Pagans
The Beauty of the Rain
When I Was A Boy
The End of the Summer
February
Road Buddy
Are You Out There
The Ocean (Another crowd request)
Encore: We Learned The Sea
I think she played a few other songs, but I don't remember which ones. If anyone else here was at this show, maybe they can pick up my slack. Dar sang for about 90 minutes plus the encore. Needless to say, it was a great show and I'm glad I made the trip, even though I didn't really know where I was going until I got there. I didn't even talk about the auditorium, but it was amazing and state of the art. The acoustic's were incredible, which made the feedback during Ana's set all the more irritating - she probably could have sung without amplification.
Anyway, If you haven't already, and you like acoustic stuff, you should definitely check out Ana Egge at her website anaegge.net.
That's all for now...
P.S. I realized today that I never posted anything about seeing the Cowboy Junkies back in September (on my Birthday!). They were amazing, The Egg in Albany is an incredible venue, and I got Margo's autograph on my CD! Woo-hoo!!! That alone made me happy for about 2 weeks after. Ah well, there will be more concerts in the future...
This past weekend I went up to Clinton, NY at Hamilton College to see Dar. Ana Egge opened for her. There was also another opening act - Courtney somebody or other whose last name escapes me - she did a very quick, hyper, 4 or 5 song set before Ana and I guess she was a former Hamilton student. She was pretty good I thought, but you could tell she was excited and honored to be opening for Ana and Dar. The show was sponsored by the college activities board and a couple campus women's groups.
It was a fantastic combination and I would encourage anyone in the vicinity of this tour to get out and see them. I'm going to say upfront that Ana was even better than I remember her being. I didn't write down set lists or anything, but here is what I remember her playing in no particular order:
I Am Illegal
Fairest of them All
Straight to my Head
Some song about an apple tree maybe?
Edelweiss
She played at least 2 or 3 other songs, maybe more, I just don't recall the titles or the songs. Unfortunately, there were a few times where there was some feedback and distortion during her singing. It was annoying, but it was a pleasure to see her perform even with the feedback. At the very start, she asked if anyone in the crowd had seen the show in Ithaca the night before. There was one person who shouted out. Then she said that 'for you, I'll try not to play the same songs I played last night.' She encouraged the crowd to join in on Edelweiss, spoke briefly about "Fairest.." being about her sister who is now in California, and talked about camping the night before in Ithaca and how different it was from living in Brooklyn. I think her set ran about 45 minutes, but I wasn't really paying attention - the time just flew by.
Then there was an intermission. Ana was out in the Lobby selling CD's and available for conversation. Unfortunately they only had copies of her album "Mile Marker" available for sale - I bought 2: one for me and one for my sister. I would have bought the others for myself had they been available. (I guess I'll just have to go to Brooklyn at some point and get them.)
After the intermission, Dar came on. She didn't have any issues with feedback or distortion through her whole set. She was amazing as usual. She talked about her past visits to Hamilton College and how the shows related to her life. The first time she was there, she was relatively unknown, and she recalled her disappointment that nobody there really cared that her babysitter moved to Kirkland (about 2 miles outside of Clinton). She talked about how the last time she was there, it was Valentine's Day and she had brought her boyfriend (now husband) with her. Now, this time, she's had her first kid and married and all that. When she finally played "The Babysitter's Here" everybody applauded and cheered, and she paused - delighted at the response - and said that now she'd come full circle, a healing circle, from the very first time she played at Hamilton. (it was a lot more natural to hear from her than to write down here.) Anyway... She didn't say much of anything political except for one quick plug for VotePair.com (or org or whatever). She said something like "Please don't let people in the swing states vote for Nader."
Periodically through the show, during breaks between the songs and such people were shouting out requests. She played a few of them and some others which must have been requested beforehand.
So here is what I remember she played in no particular order:
Fishing In The Morning
The Babysitter's Here
Iowa (crowd request - she got everyone to sing the chorus)
Southern California Wants to Be Western NY (another request - She warned in advance that she handn't played the song in a long time and she flubbed a few lines, but no one minded. It was all good.)
Another Mystery
Christians & The Pagans
The Beauty of the Rain
When I Was A Boy
The End of the Summer
February
Road Buddy
Are You Out There
The Ocean (Another crowd request)
Encore: We Learned The Sea
I think she played a few other songs, but I don't remember which ones. If anyone else here was at this show, maybe they can pick up my slack. Dar sang for about 90 minutes plus the encore. Needless to say, it was a great show and I'm glad I made the trip, even though I didn't really know where I was going until I got there. I didn't even talk about the auditorium, but it was amazing and state of the art. The acoustic's were incredible, which made the feedback during Ana's set all the more irritating - she probably could have sung without amplification.
Anyway, If you haven't already, and you like acoustic stuff, you should definitely check out Ana Egge at her website anaegge.net.
That's all for now...
P.S. I realized today that I never posted anything about seeing the Cowboy Junkies back in September (on my Birthday!). They were amazing, The Egg in Albany is an incredible venue, and I got Margo's autograph on my CD! Woo-hoo!!! That alone made me happy for about 2 weeks after. Ah well, there will be more concerts in the future...
