I've waited like 3 months for this one...
Could not decide whether to go or not... coz....
1) It's in Napa... on a Friday night... when I should be really tired...
2) I don't know anybody that would go with me to this.. (I only listen to Classics (Instrumental), Rap, and Heavy Metal... -_-;; talking about my unorthodox taste...and among my milieu, it's hard to find people who belong within the same subsets)
But I went there alone...
Napa Opera House has been renovated for a million times, and it was open for 2009 season again, which was nice.
Seats were nice, but more spacing could have worked.
It was just like seats in the Warriors game, but less spaces between rows...
I was sitting on row L, but I didn't feel I was that far from the stage.
I felt nearer to the stage than when I was at Chris Rock's show in Oakland, when I was only on 10th row from the stage.
Crowds... were nice... only 3 asians.. I am not racially sensitive, but 3 asians and all caucasians. That's what happens when Napa and Classic tunes mix.
And I was the only guy with t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers...
Some were really dressed up... guys in suits, girls in dresses and shawls,
but I lived in the Bay for 4 years, some sense of hippie-ness is in me...
Like who gives a damn what I wear and how I look...
I brought the camera, but as expected, all the lights were off as George stepped in... so my picture taking moments were stopped...
Only a few lights were lit on George's piano...from that time on...
He tried to make a couple of jokes between every song,
and explain each song if that song is not from his albums... like who wrote it, how it was written, and who inspired him to play that song...
As his recent trend, he started with a New Orleans Jazz tune,
then Rain... like for 10 minutes... that was something...
Almost felt like an impromptu variation of his song Rain, and it was very touching.
I wished it would rain outside just to have a 100% empathy with the song - but it was actually over 80 degrees that evening, and it was hot in the opera house.
and then Woods... which I fall asleep... It was Friday night, dark, and Piano solo... understandable.
Right before the intermission, he played a guitar song of a Hawaiian musician.
Like wow... I didn't know that he plays guitar...
During the intermission, a technician spent some time tuning up the piano...-_-;; I could see their effort though...
He began playing piano tunes of 1920s pianist, and some songs featured in the Peanuts, and funny tune of Elf and a Mouse. Then out of the blue, he also played harmonica... -_-;;
I so much underestimated the old man... and... the crowd loved it... no surprise, since they should be familiar and even in fond of country songs.
His second to the last song was Canon variation, I guess that song is popular even in the U.S.
I could hear people saying a few words after George said he is going to play it.
His last song was another New Orleans jazz song, to give an accent to his recent trends.
He has ways of playing with his strokes on the keys as well as adding technical niche details to make the sound more unique during his concert - like by putting his hand into the grand piano to control string vibrations, etc...
His strokes added visual to the concert, surprisingly... it was a concert I thought I would be listening with my eyes closed.
But the visuals were rather a nice complement to the whole sound.
His encore performance was another guitar song, and he was off the stage while half the audience was giving a standing ovation...
I am not sure many people actually appreciated his music,
but since I memorized almost all his songs,
It was very pleasant experience for me to hear the variations on live.
But would I go again when he comes to Pleasanton later this year?
I am not sure...
Maybe it's just the current state of being that I have right now,
but I was not peaceful enough to listen to the tunes he played.
I feel like his tunes must have been heard when I was relaxed, and when there is nothing else to do, or nothing more to be done, just to concentrate and enjoy....
I could not just concentrate and enjoy...
Every now and then, I was bothered by my thoughts on this and that...
I need to find peace first...
PS: As I drove home that night, Giants won with the hit in the bottom of the 9th inning... a great Friday it was from the beginning to the end...
