At the risk of sounding dramatic, I was devastated after discovering G Love and Special Sauce was coming to town and I was scheduled to work. But as luck or skill has it, I was able to pout my bottom lip out far enough for someone to feel bad enough to switch with me so I could surprise Patrick with tickets!
The next morning I stopped by our favorite donut place, tucked the concert receipt into the donut bag, and left it in the car for him to find on the way to work.
Granada Theater is a such a cool, grungy place, packed with art and music history. But even if you don't care about any of those things, a really great feature is the details of the floor.....especially if you weren't blessed with being the tallest tool in the box.
From the base of the stage, continuing all the way up the balcony, the entire floor is separated into sections that are higher than each preceding section, marked by shelved partitions to lean on and rest your drinks, which also helps keep the crowd from pushing forward. The best part is no matter where you stand, it's with an unblocked view!
We arrived just in time to pick out our ideal location and listen to the opener band, Swear and Shake. Although good, I think a lot of their music was a little slow to be performing in front of a new audience, but we did love the ONE song featuring the banjo, Marbles.
Patrick stopped by their booth on the way out of the bathroom to tell them they did a good job, and the female lead held her hand out to shake his {soaking wet hands, according to him}. "Sorry," he said, "I just washed my hands." Oh. Em. Gee. How I wish I was there to see the embarrassment on his face and the shocked horror on hers!!
When G Love came out singing Peace Love and Happiness, the energy of the entire audience changed. We couldn't stop dancing and G Love's legs couldn't stop moving. He played all our favorite songs with a few new ones, and while singing "Who's Got the Weed" actually took a hit off a joint someone in the front row passed him. Please keep in mind this is TEXAS; that's what I call ballsy.
One of my favorite parts of the night was when he killed a guitar solo by playing the tabs with the microphone during Baby's Got Sauce.
And again when he took a beat break at the end of song to do a free-style flow with subjects from the audience......but I think the people in the front row had a little too much of.....something......because they weren't exactly full of useful phonics.
Another one of my favorite parts was when he sent the Special Sauce off stage for an impressive acoustic session. I'll never understand, though, how so many people were talking through Gimme Some Lovin'........but then again, they probably don't have spouses that sing them that song, so they might not be so personally captivated by it.
Okay, okay, so all of it was my favorite part, actually. His music is just such a perfect combination of blues, funk, rock, hip-hop, and generalized genius-ness that I can't help but think everyone who hasn't experienced one of his concerts is missing out, and this one was the best one yet.
I was having some major video posting issues that I'm not clever enough to solve, so you'll have to click on the links I provided to hear what I'm talking about (with the exclusion of Marbles, that's a borrowed video from another time).......and one more, because I can't help myself!
Have you heeded my suggesting yet??? If not, you should check this band out! They've been around for 20 years, so get to it already!!!
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