Miranda at the Greek

8/4/16

A hot day in Los Angeles, which lead into a magnificent hot August night at the Greek Theatre to see Miranda Lambert.  Going to the Greek is always an adventure, as during the week the traffic is just awful.  It is a paltry 9.5 miles away, yet it consistently takes well over an hour to get there on a weeknight.  Pam and I continually refine our choice of routes, but none seem to work any better than the others.  We can only brave the trip a couple of times a year and this was one of those times.  Our seats were so so, somewhere in section B.  We, read I, do not like sitting up that high, even though the sound is pretty much the same and the big screens make it easy to see.  It just feels wrong to sit that far away.  At least the Greek is a pretty small venue, containing about 5,900 seats, making it roughly one third the size of the Hollywood Bowl.

We went with one of the other west side country couples in our lives, Stuart and Marla.  Stuart drove, as he has endured my driving the past several shows.  I was navigating, sending him out on the “best” route Pam and I have found, with Stuart commenting that he had a human nav system onboard.  After an hour or so of frustration, at least for me, we arrived at the bowl and proceeded to eat our sandwiches at a picnic table that we shared with two women from Moorpark that we had never met and would never see again.  We went into the theatre, with Stuart and Marla heading to their seats and Pam and I heading to our seats and agreeing to meet at Stuart’s car after the show.

There were three acts.  The opening act was The Brothers Osborne.  I had heard them on the radio and thought I liked them.  From their opening notes, I knew I was wrong.  I LOVED them, as did Pam, and as I found out later, Stuart and Marla.  The Brothers Osborne are a new band.  They have a modern sound, yet they do not have the heavy bass laden, quasi rap sound of so many new country artists.  Instead we were treated to a perfect blend of twangy country and rock sounds.  In general, the music I like best is based on story telling lyrics, usually accompanied by an acoustic guitar.  When I go to a show, though, my tolerance for mindless lyrics is a lot higher, as long as the band has a good sound.  The Brothers Osborne fits in that category.  Lyric light.  Sound great.  Unbelievably easy to listen to.  I will see them anytime, anywhere.

I wish I could make the same statement about the middle act,  Kip Moore.  I hate to say it, but Kip Moore cannot sing…or he chooses to put so much rasp into his songs that he f**ing  can’t sing.  The band was good.  The sound was good.  For me, the vocals were like nails on a chalk board.  I love rasp.  I have been a Springsteen fan since the late 1970s.  Bruuuce put the rasp into rock.  Kip Moore should take the rasp out of country.  And then we get to his lyrics.  Kip Moore sings about teenage desires and aims them at all the women in the audience, who undoubtedly love his looks and arms, which even trump Keith Urban’s.  I equate him to a current version of Tom Jones, but at least Tom Jones had a reasonably pleasant voice.  I am not going too far out on a limb here by saying I am pretty sure I will never see Kip Moore live again.

And then we get to Miranda.  Miranda is a polarizing force in country music.  I really want to side with Blake and hate her.  A lot of guys do.  But, frankly, I don’t care about her personal life, and I do not let it affect my interest in her as an artist.  I admit that I get a little tired of the “he done me wrong” themes, but they sell and she delivers them exquisitely.  I am not sure her live sound is as good as her album sound, but she puts on a great live show.  She played for about an hour and a half, and I loved every minute of it.  I have a soft spot in my heart for women who can strum, and she can strum with the best of them.  If she comes back to a venue Pam and I like, we will definitely see her again.