Three of us went, hubby, preteen daughter and myself. We got there about 7:15 and stood in line to get in. Blah...blah...blah...something about Kate Voegele singing and yeah she was good for an 18 year old.
While she was peforming her last few songs, a certain young man had made his way to the mixing table and was intently watching her and also talking to the mixer. He seemed very much at ease and casual in his movements and facial expressions. B was in the house!
Between two of her songs Kate mentioned meeting B at the radio station earlier that day and said he was a cool guy and she was psyched to meet him. She also said he was rocking the sideways fedora hat way better than she could and she would stick with rocking the thick framed glasses and guitar on her shoulder look.
After Kate left the stage, B made his way up there with his Koas pad strap. He hooked up his own equipment while the hosts (radio station people) made their way there. While B was working on his pad and loops the roadie was intently watching him and looked bewildered.
When the hosts reached the stage they joked with B and told him he wasn't supposed to be up there yet. They said, "We have to introduce you. You're a superstar." Then they put his hood on and told him to hide while they introduced him. B played along and so did Johnny as they stood behind the hosts while they did their thing.
After said hosts left the stage, B said, "That was odd. Standing there while they were talking about me. Hey, they were talking behind my back." Thus came the first laugh of the night. The boy was on with his comedy tonight and he set everyone at ease and in a good mood immediately. He is very funny and has a great smooth delivery. I would love to see him try some stand-up in the future. He already has the improv thing down and could mix in musical moments in it. It would definitely be worth seeing.
Anyway, I'll just recap the odds and ends here as you can watch the actually songs on video on here and also on my youtube account here:
The bar supplied B and Nails with bar height chairs and when B sat on his he was way uncomfortable...and how do I say this delicately, his package was a little squished from the slide onto the chair...and yeah, he's quite blessed down there as anyone with the right angle would agree. He said something about feeling like a little kid because his feet didn't touch the ground nor did they fit on the rungs of the chair in a comfortable looking way. So he 86d the chair and when Johnny said something about him which I couldn't quite hear, but thought was a snide comment about him being picky or something, B said, "Chairs are for wuzzes" in one of his many voices.
They did supply him with another regular sized chair but he stood for the whole time. I'm glad he made that choice because it he had sat on the other shorter chair, we would not have seen him as well, nor would I have the great videos we took.
For the first song, he played an improv with Johnny that I didn't recognize and he bantered a lot in between songs, very casual, sitting in the living room with you talk. After the improv, was 1000 miles, How Many Words, a really cool beatboxing/scratching mixup and She Loves the Way. He did the last two without Johnny.
After the last song he was inviting Johnny back to the stage and was told that they were out of time. He definitely was ready to give more, but there was another act .. him and he said his sweet thank yous and left the stage.
He also had to get to the meet and greet, which we unfortunately didn't have passes to.
He talked quite a bit during this show and was completely at home on that stage. He took requests from the audience and did some impressions. He did a cool American Idol collage with impressions of the song, Simon, Paula, Ryan and Randy. He does some mean Southpark.
I definitely felt like I watched a never before seen show and also one that will never be repeated. He said that he did not have a setlist and that he and Johnny had never done the duo thing before, nor had they rehearsed anything. It was two very talented musicians jamming onstage for 20 plus minutes.
The DJ from the radio station, Mike, was standing to the side during the show and you could tell he was completely taken by B. He shook his head quite a few times during the beatboxing/scratching segment and watched the rest of the show very intently. Mike was definitely a blaker after the show, if not before.
A few things that I noticed that I didn't already mention:
He has a scar under his right eye that is slightly raised and runs horizontally. His eyes seem small on stage, though that could be the bright lights in them. He is shorter than I would have thought. He can mix the oddest clothing choices and make them look good...on him that is. He gives wonderful eye contact during his performances. He carries a black zippered wallet, which he took out of his pocket when he sat n the high chair. He only drinks water while on stage, as did Johnny. He wiped the microphone off when before he handed it back to the DJ, which I thought was nice. His hair was done well, part up/part down. It's brown now, without the drastic blond tips. He kept Johnny involved in the songs while he was on stage with B. He often looked over and talked to him a few times trying to figure out what they were going to do next. Though he was definitely doing things off the cuff, he truly had a good grasp of control on it and wasn't wishy/washy about anything. I saw a very "in-control" musician up there who had his head in the game and his heart in the right place.
Side note: I drove over 4 hours (2+ each way) for this concert. I paid over $30. for the tickets. I found out after buying the tix that he was only going to do 20 minutes. I was totally pissed at this, cause I didn't think 20 minutes was worth all that. I can honestly say it was WELL WORTH that and more. I truly felt like we were witnessing a combination of talents that is unique and a show just as unique for the few hundred people there. He made the WHOLE thing enjoyable and relaxing, yet invigorating..if that makes any sense.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the recap and I encourage you to drive to see him if you can.