Radio Sophie 1 yr. Anniversary feat Ingrid Michaelson & Greg Laswell

When I babysat on Tuesday night, I didn't get home until after 2 am, so I was looking forward to a short nap after work before heading to the House of Blues, but at the end of the day, my friend who works over at Sophie, called to invite me to the private pre-show performance and party at the Delta Room, so how could I say no? I had enough time to drive home, let my dog out, change, and went to House of Blues. I got princess yellow-curb parking and tried to pick up my tickets and photo pass, but the list hadn't been submitted, so instead I went to the other side of the House of Blues and gave my name to get into the party. The performance was supposed to start at 6:30, but fortunately they were running a little late, so my 6:45 arrival was still in time to catch Ingrid as well as catch up with other friends at the station.

Ingrid took the stage and sounded perfect. She sang a few songs that were interspersed with an interview by Jennifer White and broadcast on the station's website. You can see the session in it's entirety here.




After the session, I caught up with Kallao and finally met Jen, had some more of the free champagne, then went upstairs and waited in the lengthy line at the box office to get my tickets. By the time I got in the venue, Greg Laswell had just started his first song. Unfortunately there was no photo pit and there were camera guys in the tiny space between the railing and the stage, but some kind people let me up front when they saw my photo pass. It's really nice when people are nice, so thanks to those anonymous strangers who let me in.

It had been a while since I've seen Greg, and it's so clear that he's embracing the spotlight he deserves, owning the stage and playing strong enough to drown the HoB chatty crowd. He joked about how sad his songs are by introducing "Sing Theresa Says" with a story. "I had a dream I was visited by my grandmother and she told me to sing a happy song. So I wrote another sad one."








After his set, I got a quick chance to say hi to him before he whisked off backstage. I hung out in the Delta Room between bands, and talked to Dave about pictures, so he gave me the go ahead to get in the space between the stage and the railing, and I talked with the camera guys to make sure I wouldn't be in their way. They were cool and shot mostly from onstage so I was never in their way. I was happy to be the only one in that space with a photo pass because otherwise I might not have been able to get close.

Ingrid Michaelson and her band took the stage to some excited fans. The crowd was probably 80% female with a significant lesbian following which I only mention because there were a lot of sighs, like 'this is our song' when she played "Breakable".

Standout songs of the night were "Die Alone", "Oh What A Day", and of course, "The Way I Am." Oh, and my favorite part of the night was an all crowd singalong to Death Cab For Cutie's "I will follow you into the dark," which is the lullaby I've been singing to Johanna since the day she was born. For her encore, she played a song solo on the Eukelele which was pretty damn awesome, too.













I was really happy to finally have the chance to see Ingrid and especially happy to see Greg again. I got home relatively early, so decided to take my laptop to the Ken, but unfortunately I couldn't get a signal, so I hung out with some friends before finally calling it a night. I probably should've gotten more sleep for my Thursday plans, but I'll get to that later. time for sleep.