XDA

Went to the Chris Isaak concert in a hot, flat parking lot near the Pepsi Center under a dirty tent. Sheila picked it. The opening act was DeVotchKa which I believe is Russian for woman or actually young woman. They were different: Singer on guitar; girl bassist just as often on Sousaphone; drummer; and, violinist/accordionist--playing music hard to characterize: Rock/Gypsy folk/Latin fusion? I kinda liked them. They have lots of song in the new Little Miss Sunshine movie about which movie I have high hopes. Til the End of Time is featured.

The average age at the concert was about Isaak's, 50 (although he has aged very well) but the gender split was about 65/35 women over men. Some men came as the other half of a couple but there were groups of up to 8 women with nary a man around. I guess he's cute or something and he sings well (high like Roy Orbinson who is clearly his main influence--he even admitted it during one of his painful soliloquies between songs). Some of the songs he's written are pretty good. He had an average talent band (he says they've been together for 20 years) and all in all they seem ready to kill as a lounge act in Las Vegas.

Isaac wore a sequined, blue suit like the old timey country and western guys did and then he wore a mirrored suit for the encore. He plays a big white Gibson hollowbody (an ES-345?) and he had the worst problem with the earplug in his right ear--it must have fallen out 60 times and he's stop playing and stuff it back in; didn't seem to hurt the song that he stopped playing once or twice a song. That's not so good. He got to one of his killer songs, Wicked Game and the people in the row behind us would not stop talking. They would not stop talking during the intimate (and not bad) unplugged set the band did; the couple behind us would not stop talking throughout the entire show. I don't quite understand that--Hey, honey let's go to the Chris Isaak concert, but instead of listening to the music, we'll have a conversation. But I couldn't really get too mad at them because you don't actually have to listen closely to understand and appreciate Isaak's music--one could easily turn it into background muzak for one's important conversation.

The guy of the couple in front of us had a head the size of a planet. I had to watch the concert on the jumbotron, because when it's a flat floor, which it was, unless they put the stage up high, which they didn't, a monstrous guy in the seat in front of you effectively blocks off your view of the stage. So except for the sometimes dreamy music, the hot, flat, tent covered, view blocked, non stop chatting, chubby girl dancing and banging into you venue was a little reminiscent of a concert in hell. You could do worse than the City Lights Pavilion, but you'd have to search. As for Isaak, been there, heard that, not going back.

But he really delivered on Go Walking Down There. Great song.