Crystal Bowersox, Joe's Pub, 3/6/13 7:00 p.m.
This was supposed to be a trip with a friend to see Jackie Evancho at Lincoln Center, but Jackie Evancho cancelled, so we went to Crystal Bowersox instead.
Of course, these performers are very different.
First the venue. This concert was in Joe's Pub at the Public Theater at 425 Lafayette in Manhattan, NY.
This is an interesting place. There are at least two, maybe more, performance spaces there. In the center, is a large lobby or maybe it's an atrium. They serve some refreshments there. Joe's Pub is to the left.
The outside is very attractive, with nice lighting that makes it look very welcoming. I wish I had taken a picture of that.
Joe's Pub is a full service restaurant with a sound stage. You have to buy dinner to take in the concert, at least for the seats that I bought. These seats were only $20 a piece, but dinner for two, with tax and tip, was $90 -- and that was with no alcohol.
Unfortunately, this is one of those restaurants that follow the new trend of serving undersized portions with the idea that you'll make it up in desert. Since I can't eat desert, it ends up being skimpy. Then the orange juice they brought me was mostly ice. If you order the juice, ask for no ice.
As soon as we got in there & saw the relatively small size of the place, maybe seating about 100 or so, and the relatively large size of the speakers, I asked the waiter if it would be loud. He said it would be.
Fortunately, I always travel with ear plugs. My friend, however, does not, so she ran out & got ear plugs, which she was *very* glad she did.
Fortunately, I always travel with ear plugs. My friend, however, does not, so she ran out & got ear plugs, which she was *very* glad she did.
The opening act was Crystal's backup band without her.
They were barely tolerable with ear plugs. Even with the ear plugs, the vibrations were enough to send an unpleasant tingle throughout my body.
Adding to the effect was the passage of the subway down the street in front, which created more vibrations whenever it went by. At first, I thought that was the music, but Crystal was the one who pointed out that it was the subway.
Adding to the effect was the passage of the subway down the street in front, which created more vibrations whenever it went by. At first, I thought that was the music, but Crystal was the one who pointed out that it was the subway.
However, even worse was the extremely boring nature of the music that these young men performed. The songs all sounded the same and even the parts of the songs all sounded the same. My friend called this music a "drone."
Impressively, these same fellows showed remarkable versatility once Crystal came out on stage, though.
She did a fine job. As everyone knows, she has a wonderful voice. She did quite a variety of different songs, some from her new album, and some of of the songs were quieter. She is able to make all sorts of wonderful different tones and effects. Also she looked thinner to me than when she was on Tv.
The only one that I dared take my ear plugs out for was when she did an encore and sang Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" alone with the piano. That was quite nice, though still a bit loud when she belted strongly.
She only sang for an hour, which was a bit disappointing, but they had booked her for a second concert at 9:30. I guess there was a lot of interest in hearing her, which is nice.
I noticed that John Krajicek, who I believe is the guy who beat Jackie Evancho, was on Monday, but was only booked for one concert, not two.
This all goes to show that you have to come in second on these talent shows. Both Jackie and Crystal came in second, as did Susan Boyle, Rhydian Roberts, Connie Talbot, and Sung-bong Choi -- all of whom I like.
Crystal made the very nice announcement that she has been cast on Broadway to play Patsy Cline, which she seemed very pleased and overwhelmed by. I do hope that in order to play the woman with short dark hair Crystal won't have to cut off her wonderful blond dreadlocks.
Only because i've started taking note of these things, I should note that the audience was almost entirely white. There was a diversity of ages, and seemingly equal numbers of men & women, though.
I am enclosing some photos
I had to zoom on the computer using the photos I had taken. I could not figure out how to zoom on the camera itself. It's a new cell phone, but perhaps that's just as well, because then you can see both Crystal and the band.
Unfortunately, I am not familiar enough with Crystal's songs to give set list, but my friend said that one of the songs was a Patsy Cline song
Maybe this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYtrGjJOMpE
My ticket:
Addendum 4/21/13:
Finally got back to Joe's pub & got a photo of the outside -- so pretty
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