A 22 Year Old Scottish Boy

My friend, Jodi, greatly enjoys going to concerts and she's good at talking her friends into coming along. She can be very persuasive when she wants to! This weekend, Jodi convinced Melissa and me to go see Paolo Nutini in Seattle.

Jodi gave us good advice, such as wearing comfortable shoes.

She suggested that we should enjoy a drink or two before the show. And she prepared us for a whole lot of waiting. And standing. And waiting some more. But she promised us it would be worth it. And it was! We stood in line for a long time... when the doors opened, we scurried to the front - the very front row. Us, and then the stage! We were mighty proud of ourselves too. Paolo's guitars... Aren't they lovely?
Mick's bass. Very nice. And Paolo... Sigh.... He was incredible. This is not a flattering shot of me, but guess who is in the background? Paolo! Seamus Simon is the drummer. We decided the poor guy didn't get a lot of attention (all the girls were screaming over Paolo, Gavin, Donny, and Mick) - but he was still great. He's bent over in this photo, but you can see Paolo joining Seamus on the drums. They were jamming. Gavin Fitzjohn played the "huffy puffy blowey type things." And, boy oh boy, could he play. He was awesome. Donny Little, Dave Nelson, Paolo, and Seamus. And then there was Michael McDaid, or Mick, as he's called. He was fantastic. I did fancy the bass player! Sing it to me, Paolo! Paolo gave perhaps the most passionate musical performance I've ever witnessed. Between songs, he looked "normal." Couldn't understand much of what he said - he's Scottish, afterall, but he was as normal as anyone else. However, when Paolo started to sing, he was in another world. He closed his eyes and the music just overpowered him. It was an amazing thing to watch this 22 year old belt out those songs with so much emotion. Just like this. All good things must come to an end. The concert was over and we made our way outside to the bus. Just like teenagers! We wanted to see the band come out, hoping for autographs and photos (Jodi is serious about this stuff!). Here's Gavin, headed to the bus with Dave behind him.
Donny was very friendly. And maybe a little smashed. Jodi did a good job holding him up for this photo! There were playlists taped to the stage for each band member - when the show was over, the roadie handed them out to those of us in the very front - I managed to get two of them and gave one to Jodi. Donny was very nice and graciously autographed Jodi's and mine.
Mick was looking a little smashed too. Or, maybe he was just tired? It's tough work playing the bass as well as he did! But he was willing to pose for a photo with me.
And then we waited and waited. And waited. And got really cold and hungry with sore feet. And then we waited some more. And Paolo never came out. Sigh. We were told he left as soon as the show was over and nobody got photos with him. Bummer! We waited til the bus drove away. Yes, we were the last fans there. Then we went out for Dick's burgers at 1:30am and back to our hotel to sigh over the fantastic concert.
It was a great night! The only person I loved more than Paolo last night was Jodi - for convincing me to go to the concert. We had a blast!