Notes on a Thursday

So, as I told you in the last Notes on a Thursday (that I posted on Friday), I bought tickets lickity-split for a concert last Friday at the Southern, in Charlottesville. Upon arrival, I discovered that The Civil Wars show was the first show the venue had EVER sold out in pre-order. Pretty impressive. 

Now, I don't claim to be one of those people that's like "I've followed this band since they were in their girlfriend/boyfriend/mom's basement!" But usually I either see bands that nobody has EVER heard of and there are like six of us there, or it's a pretty established band (be it in the indie community or in the music world as a whole) and everyone is there and we all know the songs, etc.

The Civil Wars are right on the cusp. Their album JUST came out. And they are adorable, because they are just tickled pink about people knowing their lyrics, being able to identify songs in seconds, packing houses, etc. And they're playful and teasing (with each other and their audience) and it just creates this amazingly intimate experience. At the risk of sounding totally pretentious (and not meaning to), it really was just the loveliest concert experience ever.

It helps that they sounds just like their album (minus the strings, because it's just the two of them), and in the cavernous basement of the Southern they sounded especially eerie and Poe-like. I mentioned on my twitter feed (I can't say "tweeted." I can't do it.) that they did a wonderfully dark rendition of "You are My Sunshine." Luckily, someone caught it on camera, and here it is:



being adorable:



Afterward he said "yeah, I'm the one with the guitar" and she said "don't mess with the one with the guitar"

awesome. 


I'd see them again in a heartbeat, I hope they never change (except to grow musically)