Let me begin by saying that the talent on this tour is immense. Even the roadies play classical piano and jump in here and there when the band members are busy trading off on other instruments (it seems they all play at least 2 or 3 professionally). Add to that the fact that the frontmen, Ritter and Cullum, might as well be comedians and this show turns out to be well worth the $20 – $50 on the ticket. Some choice quotes from the evening:
“There’s really other people from Idaho here? Hell yes. The chances of your ending up here are about the same as mine, I guess.”
-Josh Ritter on his first visit to the Sunshine State
“If you catch me, don’t let me go.”
-Josh Ritter in response to the audience members from his home state calling him a ‘Hot Idaho Potato”
“This song is about sex & drugs. That always gets a cheer, even in the retirement homes, it gets a hearty, ‘Yeah!'”
-Jamie Cullum on the song ‘Photograph’
“This is a pirate song. In the landlocked states it’s more of a cowboy-desperado song but we’re in Florida now, so I figured what the hell. It’s a pirate song now. So, if you’ll sing along on the chorus, there’s not so much lyrics as raw emoting. Think ‘shy’ pirate.”
-Josh Ritter on the song ‘Lillian, Egypt’
The night included some amazing moments, namely Ritter performing ‘Wings’ solo and Cullum playing ‘Wind Cries Mary’ and ‘Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans’ by himself. During ‘Frontin’ Cullum, as usual, forayed into the crowd with his trumpet player, Rory Simmons, and ended up no more than five feet from my seat. Talk about getting the audience involved. The camera phones came out en masse.
I guess my favorite part about seeing Cullum live (among many things) is the fact that when you get down to bare bones, as they often do, what you’re seeing is an amazing jazz trio led by a tiny brit with the biggest voice I’ve ever encountered live. As much as I can rant and rave about how much fun this live show is I simply cannot begin to put into words what I would give up to see just the three of them play acoustic for an evening. I think that might just be my dream for the afterlife. I’ve said it many times before, I know, and I’m sure I’ll end up saying it again and again, but for the love of all that is good in music, don’t miss this show. It’s more than a good time and a fun place to dance, this is the real deal, the kind of talent that most people are lucky to see once or twice in a lifetime. See that you’re one of them, you won’t regret it.
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