freecharlie...this one's for you

How awesome!!

    Freecharlie that was really nice of you    

   My all time very favorite of all band was playing recently in Washington DC at the 9:30 Club-Marillion. I absolutely adore them!  I've been following this band since 1991 when my sister turned me onto them. She'd been listening to them since 1983 when they had their first singer, Fish. I much prefer the singer they hired after the first 4 years, Steve Hogarth and they still have him today. 

Anyway, my sister couldn't make it to this concert so I went myself. No way was I going to miss this show! They are British and very big in Europe, but can only make it to the USA every 4 years or so because of taxes and visa costs. 9:30 Club is a small venue (which I love!) and it's General Admission (which I also prefer-no scalpers getting the best seats-show up early, get in line and you get the best place to stand). I always choose the balcony because I get a press pass to take photos and when shooting with my 70-200mm lens (which becomes a 300mm lens on my DX camera) I can see the singers head and shoulders. 

So, I'm standing there in my spot and there's a woman and her husband standing next to me. I say hello to them (first order of business, make friends of the people next to you so they can hold your spot when you go to the bathroom) and she says it back followed by, "I'm getting too old for this". I ask her age and she says "60". I tell her I am "56" and that age is just a number, it's how you feel that's important. I feel like I'm 35, and if I wasn't taking photos I'd be dancing through the whole show. Of course I don't tell her the last part of this. 

Half way through the show she leans over and says, "Do you really enjoy coming to this all alone?" I said, "Absolutely" and I meant it. DH isn't really into music. He would have been miserable there, and I wouldn't have been able to concentrate on either taking photos, nor would I have enjoyed it half as much. By going alone I got to really get into the music, talk to other Marillion fans and have fun. 

By the way, I'm super shy in person. It takes a lot for me to initiate conversation. Usually I wait until the other person speaks. This time I knew I had to make friends (because of the bathroom thing) so I went prepared with two lines-"Are you a long time Marillion fan?" and "How do you like the new album"? 

If you are curious about how this band sounds go to www.marillion.com, look under Music, then Crash Course. You can hear a few songs in their entirety and sign up to have a full length CD of sample songs sent to you for free. 

So glad you got it.

What do you think?