June 27 2008: Josh Ritter and the Boston Pops - Symphony Hall, Boston MA
Caitlin and I went to see Ritter play with the Boston Pops backing him up. It was unbelievable.
We got some floor seats the day of the show for relatively cheap and showed up at Symphony Hall to find that the seats included a table and drink/dessert service. In a place that's pretty unbelievably good-looking. I was expecting something in vein of the Schnitzer. Instead, it was a big room with a level floor, with all these people sitting in folding chairs and drinking their drinks and eating their desserts. There were two short balconies, and the place was surprisingly small. Someone who spends their free time writing wikipedia entries says that Symphony Hall is "widely considered to be one of the two or three finest concert halls in the world." I can't speak to that, but when we walked in and I saw what I saw, I got pretty excited.
And Ritter came out, with the regular band plus the orchestra, to open with "Idaho," mostly solo/acoustic, but with piano, french horn and what was either the kick drum or some fancy orchestral drum at the very end. It was almost perfect. Or I thought almost perfect until the next tune, "Best For the Best," which included the full orchestra for the entirety of the tune. The orchestra played a mostly backing role until the third verse, when they really swelled up, and then in the fourth verse they REALLY swelled up. I was pretty much beside myself. And the crowd was polite as could be. They didn't talk, they didn't yell, they just sat there and listened and then clapped after the song ended. How much better? How much better? Could my life get?
The answer to that question was answered during the third tune: "Other Side," which I'm pretty sure I've never seen played before. It was inarguably the highlight of the night. Started out with just acoustic guitar for the first half of the first verse, and the band and orchestra came in for the second verse, and then REALLY came in between the second and third verses, the break between which got extended to probably a full minute. Josh was singing some "oh no no"s, the orchestra was going at full power, and then everything dropped off entirely with nothing but acoustic guitar for the "So at night I sit and watch for stars" line. Some more "oh no no"s during the outro. Goddamn. Godmotherfuckingdamn. THAT, my friends, was perfect. I get chills just listening to the tape.
"Rumors," "Girl in the War," "Wolves," "Bone of Song," "Right Moves," "The Temptation of Adam," etc. These were all pretty good, but they had nothing on those first three tunes. The orchestra just lends itself to the slow tunes. Slow tunes like "Monster Ballads," which was particularly nice to hear. And "Thin Blue Flame," which was performed by just Josh and a violinist. Caitlin (and apparently most of the crowd) thought this was flat-out mindbendingly amazing. I thought it was pretty great, but not standing ovation great. The violinist came in during the third verse and stayed with him through the end of the tune, and was good enough to follow Ritter through his last verse fuckup/restart without missing a beat. You think of classical musicians as working off of sheet music (which this guy was) and unable to accommodate improvisation. But this guy didn't miss a beat, and I was listening for it. My hat is off.
Towards the end of the set Robert Pinsky came out to read a couple poems to the tune of "Edge of the World." Which was fun and interesting. I hope the old lady behind us in the line to get in was satisfied. "Who is this Ritter character," she asked. "Is it kid music or adult music? I'm just here to see Robert Pinsky read."
My only real compliant is that the arrangements often had the orchestra playing second fiddle (ha!) to a guitar or piano solo - everyone in the band seemed to play their standard lines with little accommodation made for the fact that they had all these backing players at their disposal. Particularly the "Right Moves" and "Empty Hearts" solos - they could have been so much better had violins played them instead. But maybe no one pays me to arrange their orchestra's music for a reason. Who knows.
The set closed with "Kathleen." It was great. Not much going on orchestrally, but still great. The encore was "Wildfires" (amazing - now that's the way to start an encore) and "Empty Hearts." I was happy. Caitlin was happy. We drove to Revere and ate cheap onion rings on the beach. What else can you do after you see Josh Ritter backed by an orchestra?
We got some floor seats the day of the show for relatively cheap and showed up at Symphony Hall to find that the seats included a table and drink/dessert service. In a place that's pretty unbelievably good-looking. I was expecting something in vein of the Schnitzer. Instead, it was a big room with a level floor, with all these people sitting in folding chairs and drinking their drinks and eating their desserts. There were two short balconies, and the place was surprisingly small. Someone who spends their free time writing wikipedia entries says that Symphony Hall is "widely considered to be one of the two or three finest concert halls in the world." I can't speak to that, but when we walked in and I saw what I saw, I got pretty excited.
And Ritter came out, with the regular band plus the orchestra, to open with "Idaho," mostly solo/acoustic, but with piano, french horn and what was either the kick drum or some fancy orchestral drum at the very end. It was almost perfect. Or I thought almost perfect until the next tune, "Best For the Best," which included the full orchestra for the entirety of the tune. The orchestra played a mostly backing role until the third verse, when they really swelled up, and then in the fourth verse they REALLY swelled up. I was pretty much beside myself. And the crowd was polite as could be. They didn't talk, they didn't yell, they just sat there and listened and then clapped after the song ended. How much better? How much better? Could my life get?
The answer to that question was answered during the third tune: "Other Side," which I'm pretty sure I've never seen played before. It was inarguably the highlight of the night. Started out with just acoustic guitar for the first half of the first verse, and the band and orchestra came in for the second verse, and then REALLY came in between the second and third verses, the break between which got extended to probably a full minute. Josh was singing some "oh no no"s, the orchestra was going at full power, and then everything dropped off entirely with nothing but acoustic guitar for the "So at night I sit and watch for stars" line. Some more "oh no no"s during the outro. Goddamn. Godmotherfuckingdamn. THAT, my friends, was perfect. I get chills just listening to the tape.
"Rumors," "Girl in the War," "Wolves," "Bone of Song," "Right Moves," "The Temptation of Adam," etc. These were all pretty good, but they had nothing on those first three tunes. The orchestra just lends itself to the slow tunes. Slow tunes like "Monster Ballads," which was particularly nice to hear. And "Thin Blue Flame," which was performed by just Josh and a violinist. Caitlin (and apparently most of the crowd) thought this was flat-out mindbendingly amazing. I thought it was pretty great, but not standing ovation great. The violinist came in during the third verse and stayed with him through the end of the tune, and was good enough to follow Ritter through his last verse fuckup/restart without missing a beat. You think of classical musicians as working off of sheet music (which this guy was) and unable to accommodate improvisation. But this guy didn't miss a beat, and I was listening for it. My hat is off.
Towards the end of the set Robert Pinsky came out to read a couple poems to the tune of "Edge of the World." Which was fun and interesting. I hope the old lady behind us in the line to get in was satisfied. "Who is this Ritter character," she asked. "Is it kid music or adult music? I'm just here to see Robert Pinsky read."
My only real compliant is that the arrangements often had the orchestra playing second fiddle (ha!) to a guitar or piano solo - everyone in the band seemed to play their standard lines with little accommodation made for the fact that they had all these backing players at their disposal. Particularly the "Right Moves" and "Empty Hearts" solos - they could have been so much better had violins played them instead. But maybe no one pays me to arrange their orchestra's music for a reason. Who knows.
The set closed with "Kathleen." It was great. Not much going on orchestrally, but still great. The encore was "Wildfires" (amazing - now that's the way to start an encore) and "Empty Hearts." I was happy. Caitlin was happy. We drove to Revere and ate cheap onion rings on the beach. What else can you do after you see Josh Ritter backed by an orchestra?
posted by Peter Sohriakoff | 1:14 AM
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