i live to let you shine

[wingblossom]

A few hours before the concert, I tried to get my friend Alex to come with me, but she said she was too busy, so I made plans to go by myself. Late Nite Binghamton said the concert started at eleven, so I figured I'd go there a few minutes prior to the actual start. I was also planning to get my paper done for Psychology & Adolescent Literature.

This ended up being interrupted by Alex, who texted me to let me know the concert was at ten instead. She found out through her suitemate (who was also planning to go), and had changed her mind and wanted to come after all. This meant I had only five minutes to get there, so I grabbed my bag and ran down to the Undergrounds ASAP. As it turned out, only the opening act started then, so it probably would have been okay either way. A group called Private Beach performed first, and they were cute: a guy and girl on vocals, and another guy on keyboard. One of their songs was called Halloween, and another was By the Sea (I think), but I can't remember any of the other songs they played. Anyway, they did a few songs, and then for their last number, they invited anyone wearing teal to come up on stage with them and sing. XD

Then, a little before eleven, Meredith walked up to the stage. She was wearing pretty ordinary clothing; a longish sea-green shirt, baggy black pants, and sneakers. She had a small harp with her, along with her guitar. She spent some ten minutes or so setting it up and testing the mike, then introduced herself, and the concert finally began.

Even though we were all standing for Private Beach's performance, as soon as Meredith came on, we all huddled really close to the stage and sat down. I was lucky, because I was in the front row and hence had a lot of leg room. I used Alex's camera to snap a couple of pictures, but I don't think they came out all too well, despite the flash. Anyway, her music was really calming and lovely. It evokes a certain mood -- you know, when there's a definite atmosphere to the acoustics and lyrics, but it all seems effortless. I was also hoping she'd play Boats & Birds and Isabelle, because those were the first two songs of hers I heard.

I didn't know all of the songs she played, so I actually made a couple of quick notes so I could write up the set list later!

1. Grey Weather
2. Super Legend
3. August Moon
4. The People Who Raised Me
5. Geysir Nationale (or, the Tiny Harp Song)
6. Blame-Qui
7. Oats We Sow
8. Season Poem
9. Wild West
10. Bad Habit
11. Ghost
12. Stone Wall, Stone Fence
13. Boats & Birds

I had trouble figuring out a couple of the songs, because I only remembered the most generic bits of the lyrics. But I enjoyed all of her songs -- her speaking voice is nearly as high as her singing voice, which surprised me after listening to similar artists like Vienna Teng, who have deeper voices than you'd expect from their music. She was pretty quiet throughout the concert, but everyone in the audience was really enthusiastic. Someone shouted out, "We love you!" in the middle, and Meredith laughed, saying that was good, because she only loved people she didn't know, and then added, "Well, no, but I just felt like saying that."

During the middle of the concert, she replaced her guitar with her harp for Geysir Nationale. It was probably my favorite song she played, despite not having heard it before. Well, besides Boats & Birds, which she sang at the end. I was so happy she did, because I thought that both of my favorites would go unplayed. XD Right before she did, she said, "I feel like I have to play Boats & Birds, because I always do, but I also feel like fucking it up because I haven't played it in such a long time!" She also added that it's been ten years since she first composed the song. This won a collective "aww" from the audience.

At one point, she also asked everyone what they were going as for Halloween, and she said that she wanted to go as Charlie Chaplin. Someone in the crowd shouted back that they wanted to be a cat or something, and kept getting mixed up, so Meredith was like, "A cat?" Someone yelled, "No, a skank!" and Meredith just said, "...Wait, a cat skank?"

She also said that she knows she's not supposed to mess with the mike while she's singing, but when anyone calls her on it, she just pretends that she no one told her about that. Even though they have. *g*

After the concert, I bought her EP and newest CD. They were both a lot cheaper than I expected! I asked her to sign both of them, and then went back to find Alex, who decided that she also wanted to buy her CD. Alex didn't have any money with her, so she ran off to the nearby ATM while I waited at the Undergrounds to let her know if Meredith was leaving. I then found that I had money left over, so I called Alex, saying that I could buy it for her and she could pay me back later. So I stood there on line, and had just paid for Alex's CD when Alex came back to the Undergrounds.

I had also asked Meredith to sign it for Alex. This was sort of awkward because Alex decided she wanted to buy her EP too and was STANDING RIGHT BEHIND ME, but. XD Alex explained what happened, and she seemed to get what was going on. We also got a free single with the EP, which was a nice extra. She was selling shirts there too -- light blue with the pattern of a hawk -- but neither of us were interested in those.

After the concert, the Undergrounds started playing the Beatles. I had a great time, and I'm so glad BUMP got her to perform here! Hopefully I'll get to go to another concert like this again soon. <3