We finally got through all the traffic and made it home. The venue was great.... outdoors at a winery about 35 mins outside Seattle. Perfect weather......
Overall a very good show, great energy......eventually. The opening acoustic bit is just a drag..... it should be moved in the middle or just whittled down to one from her and one from him. They have so many more up tempo hits they could do-- Think About Me for one! It really felt like Lindsey was the headliner the whole night, but especially so at the beginning. It was so uncomfortable watching Chris just stand there while he sang--- they went on around 820 or so and it doesn't get dark here til well after 9/930 so it was very much still daylight and you could really see her just ...... there. She was playing soft synth lines on songs that you could hear in person but I had not been able to hear on people's videos.
The crowd was mostly sitting quietly through the beginning although Trouble got a very strong response and the Never Going Back got huge recognition and people started standing and clapping and singing along. But it wasn't until Hold Me that everyone really got up, the whole place on their feet and then tons of people going to the front of the stage, and even more during Little Lies. And then people stayed there pretty much for the rest of the show. I went down front during Little Lies. Then they did Tusk. Chris's stage makeup is VERY heavy. And she is like super skinny. She was interacting with the audience... everyone was holding up phones recording... she's gotten savvy about it and when she saw people with a phone she would stop, and sort of lean forward towards their phone camera and smile, making sure they got a good shot. She was kind of walking back and forth and I jumped up and waved and she came back towards her side and then everyone was waving and hollering to her.
Lindsey put on a fantastic show as always. Amazing energy. His voice sounded very good during the opening acoustic songs. His harmonies during the more upbeat songs with Chris showed some real wear and tear... She sounded quite good on the new stuff. It seems like she's gotten her bearings and has settled into the set nicely. The volume was too loud, actually, even when Lindsey was talking the speakers distorted his voice quite a bit.
Not a fan of the canned vocals.
Really, on some songs it sounded like Alvin and the Chipmunks were backing them up. Disappointed Chris didn't play keys on her own song (Feel About You). It was all Brett.
The staging and lighting and all were quite good. Tasteful; not overdone. The purple and red lighting which does NOT video well at ALL on ISA is great. The lighting on Jimmy Paxson during the drum solo bits on Too Far Gone was cool.
I still wonder with Christine's voice--- it sounded so warm and like honey on In The Meantime.......
Again though, it felt like a Lindsey show with Chris kinda bolted on. She was onstage the whole time, but her stage presence is different than his... she's never been flashy, and so the contrast with him was kinda glaring. When he and Stevie are onstage as a twosome, it's like a very even back and forth, trading off the spotlight.
I felt like they could have done more Christine hits. She has more than anyone in the band.... too many of his solo songs. Maybe that's just me.
It was hilarious that he seemed to hear my shout out during his spiel. He just stopped and cracked up, and said the bit about "You've heard this one before... clearly. MANY times!!" and then just laughed some more. Then he resumed. As much as I wish they'd cut ISA, man the crowd does love it and goes bonkers for it. Sigh.
That's all I can say for now. I'll see how my photos and videos came out and figure out a way to load them. I was using photo bucket but now they want me to pay because I only use it to upload things here.
Everyone with tickets to upcoming shows will love it!