Sometimes I don’t understand this town.
Thanks Peter! You helped me enjoy the evening!!
May 15, Call the Office
You were 1 out of 7
John
Seven is a slight exaggeration; my friend Greg and I counted 12 people in the audience for John Mann‘s solo concert this evening.
John, in case you kinda recognize the name but don’t know from where, is one of the founders of Spirit of the West. He recently released a solo album, Acoustic Kitty, that has been in my car CD changer since the day I bought it. (The title and eponymous track take their name from a CIA research project that was almost comically unsuccessful.) Tonight’s performance was a solo acoustic show to a highly appreciative, if tragically small, crowd.
The performance highlight of the night for me was his encore, an a cappella version of Robert Burns’ To A Mouse that he wrote while performing in Of Mice And Men in Vancouver. The fanboy highlight, of course, was chatting with John for a couple of minutes after the show and having him sign a second copy of the CD; he’s a genuinely nice guy, and was gracious about the lack of an audience. I hope tonight’s show hasn’t turned him off London terribly, and that Friday’s performance at Ottawa’s Tulip Festival is better attended–my brother will be there (won’t you, Ed?).
Here are two short samples of what all but the 12 of us missed: Acoustic Kitty (ogg and mp3) and American TV (ogg and mp3).
Greg and his friend Heather love Spirit of the West. I wonder if they knew the frontman was in London playing solo. Heather could have been one of the 12.
Shame more people weren’t there. He’s got a lovely voice and is quite talented. Plus he’s cute!
If there is no other song that gets a crowd to dance it’s..Home for a rest. Did he play it?
Greg was there, actually, and got three CDs, one for Heather, one for her sister, and one for himself… guess I forgot to mention that.
No Home, but he did do Political by request. I think the only other SOTW tune he did was Unplugged.
He opened with Venice is Sinking as well – very good, and one of my favorite songs. I think I’ll practice that one so I can maybe join in sometime…
That’d be way cool. Knew that accordion would come in handy one of these days. *g*