12/4/06- Amos Lee & Mindy Smith @ Belly Up

I mentioned that I scored tickets to the Mindy Smith and Amos Lee show by calling into "The Inside Track", Scott Riggs' new show on Rock 105.3. I was pretty happy about it all because I have the first albums from both artists but wasn't ready to fork over $22 for a show. Growing up, most of my friends had parents that listened to Zeppelin and Floyd, mine listened to KyXy, so it should be no surprise that I like the lighter music as much as I do. If KPRI didn't play Steely Dan, I'd probably stream the station a whole lot more because it gives me my perfect mix of new and old, rock and reggae and blues. This is the only station in San Diego that I've ever heard play Son Volt, was the first to play Snow Patrol, and was first to play artists like John Mayer and James Blunt before you wanted to throw tomatoes at them. Their "playlist" isn't really a playlist and lasts for a few hours. Considering I heard "Chasing Cars" on my drive home at 6:00 on 91X and then on my way to the Belly Up at 7:30 again on 91X, the importance of variety factors in heavily when you're stuck in an iPod-less car for any duration of time.

I figured the show would start on time, so I arrived a little before 8 to grab my tickets. I had no takers on my spare ticket amongst my friends, so I was working out a deal with a guy who was buying tickets that he could have my second ticket if he just bought me a couple beers. The girl behind the glass looked on every list and my name wasn't on any of them. I guess I'm glad it was me and not someone who has never won tickets before or something because it could've been a big headache. I waited while she tried to help all the people behind me until the manager came out and just told her to add me and give me one ticket. No ticket for booze trading, but at least I was in the show.

I entered the venue after Mindy's set had already started and tried to maneuver my way into a spot where (a) I wasn't standing behind some 6'4" dude and (b) wasn't adjacent to or behind any couple making out or otherwise showing PDA. Somehow that was impossible to do. I was actually really surprised at how crowded the show was but maybe I shouldn't be because it was a solid bill. So I found a spot on the edges of the crowd where I was pushed about 20 times by yet another moron trying to get to the front of the stage. I know I'm condescending about what I call the "white tennis shoe crowd" but I just don't relate. The men and their blonde ponytails and mom jeans, the women with gaudy Chanel bags and over blow dried dyed hair, like anyone believes they're natural blondes. But, I was here for a good show, so I focused on the stage and tried to ignore getting pushed around.

The first time I heard Mindy Smith was on KPRI. "Come to Jesus" was the single and I liked the song, despite being super non-religious myself. When an old boss asked if I'd heard her before, he said, " she has the voice of an angel." I don't know if I would ever describe someone the same way, but there are amazing things that Mindy can do with her voice that sound contrived when coming from a host of pop stars, but are natural in her range. She looks like a cross between Alyssa Milano and Jennifer Love Hewitt and had good banter between songs that made this particular crowd fall in love with her if they weren't already. At one point she talked about how her first album came out after her mother lost her fight to breast cancer, but that she feels lucky that with what she does, she can still have her mother represented, and went into a song from the first album that she wrote for her called "One Moment More" (listen on her MySpace page) and there was this collective feeling in the crowd that tears were gonna roll. She played a mix of both albums but she either skipped "Come to Jesus" or I was still wrangling my ticket when she played it.

I hung out in the back patio between artists and heard more conversations from people that I don't relate to whatsoever. It was particularly funny because this one woman was kinda saucy and a bit obnoxious and was declaring to her friends how much the Belly Up crowd sucks because "they're all douchey douches".

By the time I came back in, Amos was onstage. He plays a unique version of folksy blues which even as I type, doesn't quite give the feel of his music. I guess I'd say take the rock out of Ben Harper and you might have something close to Amos Lee. And that's not a bad thing. He started with a few new songs off his latest album and then segued into the older stuff. Women were screaming as they were all lubed up from their $8 cocktails. I loved the music, but the venue was so packed that I couldn't really find a spot where I could hear, see, and not get crushed by someone taller and pushier than me, so I went to the end of the bar nearest the merch table and could finally see and hear everything.

The show lasted a little over and hour. I don't remember the songs exactly but as I expected, he closed the show up with "Arms of A Woman", and aside from the bartenders talking through the whole song, it sounded amazing.

Supposedly Amos was going to come out for autograph signing, but the line that had formed was ridiculous, so I chose to be on my way. I'd missed Amos and Mindy in the past when they've come through San Diego (separately), but I'm certainly glad I didn't miss them again.